CHOCOLATE may aggravate a sleep disorder in which people unknowingly act out violent nightmares, thrashing about and shouting as they dream.
About 1 in 200 people suffers from the disorder, called rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder, or RBD. Most sufferers are men.
Robert Vorona of the Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia, noticed the chocolate link when he met a patient who lashed out in his sleep during recurrent nightmares, in which he tried to protect his home against intruders.
Experiments by the patient over several months had already put the blame on chocolate, says Vorona. The outbursts…
