REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

The parasomnia REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is characterized by the loss of physiological atonia of skeletal muscles during dream sleep. As a result, dream content is acted out which leads to abnormal nocturnal behavior such as flailing and punching of the arms (e.g. “fighting”, crawling in bed), kicking and/or vocalization (e.g. speaking, screaming, shouting, laughing). Dreams are frequently reported to be very vivid or even frightening.

Previous studies have shown that RBD patients are at an increased risk for subsequent development of chronic neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease. The Research Group Imaging in Neurodegenerative Diseases therefore aims to longitudinally assess affected persons to examine the further development of the disease over time.