Research presented at the 2017 annual gathering of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience, held in Montreal, investigates what goes on inside our brains when we dream. Surprisingly, the research also suggests that dream dysfunctions may predict the development of neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease or dementia.
The research was conducted by Dr. John Peever and his team at the University of Toronto in Canada in 2015.
These brain cells that produce GABA, or GABAergic neurons, control the timing of REM sleep and its features, such as muscle paralysis. As Dr. Peever explains, "When we switch on these cells, it causes a rapid transition into REM sleep." The brainstem sends signals to relax muscles and limbs so that we do not do in real life what we dream about while asleep.
Knowing all of this, Dr. Peever and colleagues set out to examine dreaming disorders such as cataplexy, narcolepsy, and REM sleep behavior disorder.
They found that REM sleep disorders are linked to several neurodegenerative diseases that tend to occur in old age. "This link suggests that neurodegenerative processes initially target the circuits controlling REM sleep and specifically SubC neurons," write Dr. Peever and colleagues in their 2015 paper.
"We observed that more than 80 percent of people who suffer from REM sleep disorder eventually develop synucleinopathies, such as Parkinson's disease, and Lewy body dementia. Our research suggests sleep disorders may be an early warning sign for diseases that may appear some 15 years later in life."