Employees weekly are connected to a faster aging process at all ages, and to a higher risk of premature death.
The account that present the night nightmares could be much more salty than a simple awakening of a start. Having nightmares on a weekly cadence would in fact seem to be connected to an increased risk of early aging and even premature death. This is what a study by Imperial College London suggests in collaboration with the UK Dementia Research Institute presented on June 23 at the annual congress of the European Academy of Neurology.
Nightmares and early mortality
Scientists analyzed the data of 183,000 people between 26 and 86 years old who had taken part in previous research. At the beginning of the studies, the volunteers had to report how often they had nightmares, and then had been followed for a period of time between a year and a half and 19 years. Those who had said they were attacked by nightmares on a weekly basis showed A tripled risk of premature death (before 70 years) Compared to those who had not reported bad night dreams.
The association seemed so evident, that the presence of nightmares was a predictor stronger than premature death compared to the habit of smoking, obesity, bad nutrition and lack of physical activity.
Sleepless nights and biological aging
The authors of the study then measured biological aging through the length of the telomers, small repeated segments of DNA that close the final part of the double propeller, preventing them from ticking and damaging themselves. These structures shorten every time a cell duplicates, and are often considered a molecular clock that indicates how quickly the cells of an organism age.
For this part of the study, 2,429 children between 8 and 10 years old, whose frequency of nightmares was reported by the parents were also recruited. The team finally assessed the biological aging of adults by studying epigenetic watches, that is, particular changes that take place in the genes and that do not affect the DNA sequence.
The high frequency of nightmares has been connected to an accelerated aging at all agesregardless of sex and ethnicity, and even in children. Among adults, accelerated biological aging was responsible for approximately 40% of the increase in the risk of mortality detected in the previous part of study.
The reasons for the bond
Even if it is a simple association and an effect bond is not demonstrated, the nightmare frequency could be connected to premature aging because it prevents a healthy night rest and interferes with the sleeping functions for the body (for example, with the function of cell repair).
In addition, nightmares can raise the cortisolan hormone that accelerates cellular aging.
At the same time, more frequent nightmares can be associated to a wide range of medical conditions And pathologies characteristic of the age that advances, and this link may have influenced the results.
