Kicking, Yelling During Sleep? Anxiety Might Be the Reason

Taking anti-depressants or having post-traumatic stress disorder or anxiety are risk factors for a turbulent and typically violent sleep disorder referred to as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder, says a study. Rapid eye movement is that the dream state of sleep. An individual could act out violent by yelling, flailing their arms, punching or kicking, to the purpose of harming themselves or a sleep partner.

During normal rapid eye movement, your brain sends signals to stop your muscles from moving. However, for an individual with rapid eye movement behavior disorder, those signals are disrupted.

“While a lot of continues to be unknown concerning rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, it can be caused by medications or it may be an early sign of another neurologic condition like Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies or multiple system atrophy,” said study author Ronald Postuma at the McGill University in Canada.

For the study, the researchers checked out 30,097 individuals with a median age of 63. They identified 958 individuals, or 3.2% with doable rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder when excluding participants with Parkinson’s sickness, dementia, Alzheimer’s sickness or apnea.

In addition, findings, revealed in journal Neurology showed that 13 % of these with the disorder taking anti-depressants to treat depression compared to 6 % while not the disorder. Individuals with the disorder were conjointly two-and-a-half times as doubtless to own post-traumatic stress disorder and doubly as doubtless to own the mental state, findings showed.

Other findings were that men were doubly as doubtless as women to have possible rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder. Individuals with possible rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder were 25% additional doubtless to be moderate to significant drinkers than those while not the disorder.

“Our hope is that our findings will help guide future research, especially because REM sleep behavior disorder is such a strong sign of future neuro-degenerative disease,” said Postuma.

Identifying lifestyle and personal risk factors linked to this sleep disorder may lead to finding ways to reduce the chances of developing it, the team noted.

Also Read: Check Out Some Steps to Deal With Panic Attacks And Anxiety In A Better Way