Restless sleep turned out to be a sign of a dangerous disease

If a person screams, waves their arms, or kicks in their sleep, this could be an early sign of serious neurological diseases - Parkinson's disease or Lewy body dementia.

This is stated in a study published in the journal eBioMedicine.

Scientists studied more than 1200 MRI scans of patients with REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and found changes in the brain indicating future neurodegenerative diseases. Normally during sleep, muscles are paralyzed to prevent movement, but in people with RBD, this mechanism is disrupted - they aggressively react to dreams and physically act them out. This behavior is most common in people over 50, and 90% of them eventually develop one of two diseases.

Using AI, researchers identified two types of brain atrophy: in Parkinson's disease, the deep parts of the brain are affected, while in dementia, the cortex is affected. This allows doctors to predict which diagnosis a patient is prone to, even before symptoms appear.

The authors hope that early diagnosis of RBD and understanding the mechanisms of brain atrophy will help develop more effective approaches to treatment and slow the progression of these diseases.