Researchers from Chinese University say they have found that people with a family history of a type of sleep disorder associated with depression and anxiety have a greater chance of developing neurodegenerative diseases.

Experts from the university’s medicine department conducted a family study involving 1,371 people between 2017 and 2021. About 600 of the participants had immediate family members with psychiatric Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behaviour Disorder (RBD), a condition which leads people to act out their dreams.

People with psychiatric RBD are four to five times more likely to develop neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and dementia than others, the research team found.

“Having this family aggregation of RBD suggests there may be some shared genes or shared environmental influence,” Wing Yun-Kwok, the chairman of the university’s Department of Psychiatry said.

“But we don't understand what it is. They seem to cluster together.”

Wing said there are about 10,000 to 20,000 people in Hong Kong with psychiatric RBD and most of them developed the disorder in their 50s or 60s.

He added that there are things RBD patients can do to reduce their chances of getting a neurodegenerative disease.

“Manage your depression well … heighten your alertness … train your brain, keep yourself active, keep your brain working, keep your body working, keep your sleep better, minimise the stress, improve your diet, eat more fibre, and have more social, family [life],” he said