According to a new study presented at the annual meeting of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN), people who have frequent nightmares have a threefold increased risk of premature death, writesUPI.
According to scientists, these people also show signs of significantly accelerated biological aging, with their bodies wearing out more than their date of birth might reflect.
This is likely due to the stress that nightmares can put on a sleeping body.
For the study, researchers pooled data from more than 2,400 children between the ages of 8 and 10 and 183,000 adults between the ages of 26 and 86 who participated in health studies in the United States.
The participants' biological aging was assessed by the length of their telomeres - small DNA sequences that cover the ends of chromosomes and prevent them from unraveling, much like the plastic ends of shoelaces on shoes. According to the researchers, telomere length was determined to determine whether human cells age faster than their actual age might reflect. The results showed that adults who reported weekly nightmares were more than three times more likely to die before age 70 during the 19 years of follow-up.
According to the researchers, these nightmares were a stronger predictor of premature death than other risk factors such as smoking, obesity, poor diet and lack of physical activity. The researchers found that children and adults with more frequent nightmares also experienced faster biological aging.
The researchers estimated that this accelerated aging led to an increased risk of death in about 40 percent of the participants.
Researchers found that frequent nightmares seem to affect everyone about the same, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or mental health.
And even monthly nightmares were found to be associated with faster aging and increased risk of death, compared to infrequent nightmares or no nightmares.
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