risk factors for frequent nightmares, according to research from the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Turku in Finland. However, the study doesn’t prove that the depression, insomnia and fatigue cause nightmares, but that there is a clear connection between them.
The study included close to 14,000 adults, aged 25 to 74 years of age, and lasted from 2007 and 2012. 53% of the participants were women.
Approximately 45% of the participants stated that he had occasional nightmares in his sleep in the last 30 days, while just over 50% said they didn’t have any. Almost 4% often had nightmares in the last 30 days.
From all the participants, the researchers found that 28% of those who had severe depression, had nightmares, and 17% of those with frequent insomnia.
After further analysis, the authors of the study concluded that insomnia, exhaustion and depression were the strongest independent risk factors for nightmares.
“This is particularly evident in the connection between the nightmare and depression (…) it Is possible that the nightmares could serve as early indicators of the onset of depression and, therefore, to have a new diagnostic value for physicians and psychologists†said the head of research, dr. Nils Sandman.
The research was published in the April issue of the medical scientific journal Sleep
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