” Research by the Center For Human Brain Health While Parkinson’s itself is not fatal, disease complications can be serious. Although there is no cure, treatment options vary and include medication and surgery. Tremor, mainly at rest and described as pill rolling tremor in hands.Currently, all therapies used for PD improve symptoms without slowing or halting disease progression.” People with Parkinson’s disease may experience: The Parkinson’s Foundation confirms that, “Scientists are exploring ways to identify biomarkers for PD that can lead to earlier diagnosis and more tailored treatments to slow down the disease process. However, according to Mayo Clinic, “your risks are still small unless you have many relatives in your family with Parkinson’s disease.” If you have a close relative with Parkinson’s disease your chances of developing the disease will increase. People usually develop the disease around age 60 or older. The progression of symptoms is often a bit different from one person to another due to the diversity of the disease.” Who is at risk? Parkinson’s disease(PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects predominately dopamine-producing (“dopaminergic”) neurons in a specific area of the brain called substantia nigra.Īccording to the Parkinson’s Foundation, “Symptoms generally develop slowly over the years. However, using nightmares as a risk indicator for Parkinson’s has not previously been considered. Previous studies have shown that people with Parkinson’s disease experience nightmares and bad dreams more frequently than adults in the general population. Risk indicators for Parkinson’s and Longevity Researchers at the University of Birmingham discovered that in a cohort of older men, individuals experiencing frequent bad dreams were twice as likely to be later diagnosed with Parkinson’s as those who did not. This is important for anyone in the risk group for Parkinson’s disease. A new study has revealed that older adults who start to experience bad dreams or nightmares could be showing the earliest signs of Parkinson’s disease.