Sleep and Parkinson’s Disease
We all know how vital sleep is for us! Think about the last time you got a bad night of sleep. How did you feel the next day? Besides feeling groggy, you probably had low energy, were slower to make decisions or maybe even made poorer decisions about anything from a project at work, your food choices, or your decision to do that morning workout. That is true for anyone, but it is especially important if you are living with Parkinson’s disease. In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of good quality sleep for those with PD as well as suggest some tips to get a full night of rest.
How does sleep affect my brain?
Sleep is very important to many aspects of our physical and cognitive functions. Research has shown that even 1 night with poor sleep can negatively affect everything from our reaction times, blood glucose control and our risk for heart attack and strokes. Besides aiming for 7-8 hours of sleep a night, we want to make sure that we are getting good quality sleep by spending the ideal time in each sleep stage/cycle. Our body goes through 4 different stages of sleep that last a total of around 90 minutes and then repeat throughout the night. Each stage of sleep is important for a different body function and together they allow us to function at our best
“Dozing off”/awake: we spend very little time in this stage and although we experience short times in this phase throughout the night we often don’t even recognize that we are partially awake. People can be easily awakened during this time.
Light Sleep: this stage makes up about 50% of our sleep cycle. In this stage we start to experience our heart rate slow, our temperature drop and decrease in brain function. This stage helps promote mental and physical rest!
Deep Sleep: during this stage of our sleep cycle our body really gets a chance to experience restoration and recovery from our previous day. Due to this extra restorative process, this stage of sleep also helps give a boost to our immune system. If you wake up feeling extra refreshed, you probably spent a good amount of time in this sleep stage
REM Sleep: REM sleep stands for “rapid eye movement”. During this stage of sleep, our brain actually experiences a spike in brain function, almost similar to that of being awake. We experience increased dreaming during this time but our bodies actually temporarily “paralyzes” our muscles to prevent us from acting out these dreams. This stage of sleep is vital to our consolidation of memory, learning, creativity and stabilizing mood.
What happens in Parkinson’s disease with my sleep?
Sleep can be disrupted in Parkinson’s in many ways:
REM sleep disorder: REM sleep is one of the stages of your sleep cycle and can be disrupted in people with Parkinson’s disease, even years before experiencing any physical symptoms. Almost half of people with Parkinson’s disease experience REM sleep disruption that can result in excessive movement in this stage of sleep. This may cause a safety concern for you or your partner if your body is not experiencing the “temporary paralysis” that normally prevents you from acting out your dreams. Therefore it is a good idea to talk to your doctor about medications if you are experiencing this.
Daytime sleepiness: almost half of people with Parkinson’s disease experience daytime sleepiness. This can be caused by certain PD medications (Mirapex, Requip or Neupro) but can also be from disruptions in your sleep cycle. If you experience this, first try to avoid day time naps, get outdoors in the morning and try to get a morning workout in. This may help reset your bodys normal rhythm to allow you to get a more restful night’s sleep. If this persists, talk to your doctor about your medications.
Other sleep disruptions may be caused by:
Restless leg syndrome
Waking frequently in the night to use the restroom
Sleep apnea
Hallucinations and vivid dreams
Difficulty turning over in bed
Tips on a better nights sleep:
Make sure you stick to a sleep schedule, try to go to bed at night and wake up in the morning at around the same time (plus or minus less than 30 minutes). You want to aim to get 7-8 hours of sleep each night.
Decrease bright lights in the evening. About an hour before you go to bed, try to decrease the amount of light you are exposing yourself to. This means the t.v., cellphone or even bright overhead lights. Instead opt for some dim light, read a book or talk to a loved one.
Regular exercise. We know the benefits of regular exercise for our body but it also has a huge benefit for our brain! Getting exercise, especially in the mornings can help regulate our sleep/wake cycles. Added bonus if you can exercise outdoors! Try checking out our 10:30 am Saturday PWR! class to get your movement in early or one of our pre recorded classes to take any time that works for you!
Avoid caffeine in the afternoon. Caffeine can stay in our body many hours after we consume it and can disrupt our sleep up to 12 hours later. Caffeine has many health benefits but try to consume it before noon each day to allow it to clear out of your system before bedtime.
Avoid liquids close to bedtime to decrease having to wake up in the middle of the night. You want to make sure you are staying properly hydrated but try to enjoy your beverages earlier in the day. Many people with Parkinson’s also experience a lot of falls at night, therefore decreasing your overnight bathroom trips will also help decrease your fall risk!
Keep a cool, dark environment to sleep in. This will help regulate your sleep cycle by keeping your body temperature controlled and allow you to get more restful sleep.
Try satin/silk sheets or pajamas to help make it easier to move around in bed. If you are still having difficulty with moving in bed, contact one of our physical therapists to learn more about how to improve this!
Some Parkinson’s medications can also disrupt your sleep, talk to your doctor about your medications if you are having disrupted sleep.