20 Wednesday June 8 2022 | the times
News
Experiencing bad dreams could be an
early warning sign of Parkinson’s
disease, according to new research.
A team from the University of
Birmingham found that older men who
had frequent nightmares were twice as
likely to go on to have the disease
diagnosed as those who did not.
The results suggest that bad dreams
and nightmares linked to Parkinson’s
begin a few years before the character-
istic features of tremors, stiffness and
slowness of movement.
Data on almost 4,000 men living in
the US was analysed for the study, pub-
lished in the journal eClinicalMedicine.
Its lead author, Dr Abidemi Otaiku of
the university’s centre for human brain
health, said: “Although it can be really
beneficial to diagnose Parkinson’sNightmares could be an early
warning of Parkinson’s disease
disease early, there are very few risk
indicators and many of these require
expensive hospital tests or are very
common and non-specific, such as
diabetes.
“While we need to carry out further
research in this area, identifying the
significance of bad dreams and night-
mares could indicate that individuals
who experience changes to their
dreams in older age without any obvi-
ous trigger should seek medical advice.”
Over a 12-year period, 91 of the men
in the study developed Parkinson’s.
Most diagnoses occurred in the first
five years of the study and men with
frequent bad dreams during that period
were more than three times as likely to
develop the disease.
People with Parkinson’s disease are
known to experience vivid nightmares
or bad dreams more often than peoplewithout it, but this is the first time they
have been identified as an early hall-
mark of the condition.
Dr Katherine Fletcher, research
communications manager at Parkin-
son’s UK, said: “Previous research has
shown that one particular sleep
problem, known as rapid eye move-
ment (REM) sleep disorder, where
dreams are acted out, has been linked to
a higher risk of Parkinson’s.”
She added that it was estimated
about 70 per cent of people with this
disorder would go on to develop the
disease. “This new study provides fur-
ther evidence that changes to sleep
might be an early sign of Parkinson’s, in
this case linking bad dreams to
increased risk of people going on to
develop the condition,” she said.
About 145,000 people in the UK have
had Parkinson’s disease diagnosed.Kat Lay Health EditorRUTH DOWNING / ANIMAL NEWS AGENCYMore, please! A fledgling blue tit keeps its mother busy all day long with constant
feeds in Ashbourne in Derbyshire. Each chick can eat up to 100 caterpillars a day
Apple forced to adopt common charger
All phones and portable devices sold in
the EU must have a uniform charging
port by the end of 2024, raising the
prospect that Apple’s “lightning
charger” will be phased out in the UK.
The new rules, which were approved
by the European parliament yesterday,will force manufacturers to use a
USB-C charger as standard. Apple’s
iPhone is the only leading smartphone
not to use the connection.
The EU said the rules would reduce
hassle for consumers and curb waste by
removing the need to buy a charger
with a new device. They will apply to
“all small and medium-sized portable
electronic devices” with laptops follow-ing suit 40 months later. The rules will
not apply to the UK but experts
predicted that Apple would phase out
its bespoke charger here as well.
The move needs approval by the
European parliament and European
Council but that is seen as a formality.
A European parliament spokesman
said: “Today we have made the
common charger a reality in Europe.”Andrew Ellson
Consumer Affairs Correspondent