What Helps Parkinson’s Patients Sleep?

What Helps Parkinson’s Patients Sleep? Parkinson’s is undoubtedly one of the most prominent complex movement disorders.

According to the statistical bureau in the US, more than 1 million people in the US alone are affected by Parkinson’s disease.

Besides the significant involuntary movement of body parts, Parkinson’s patients are known to go through restlessness episodes that disturb their regular sleep patterns. But some ways can help you with Parkinson’s causing trouble sleeping. 

We have a related article for you, you can read How To Prevent Parkinson’s Disease? Effective Measures For Parkinson’s Disease.

What Helps Parkinson’s Patients Sleep?

If you are one of such individuals suffering from Parkinson’s. You can tell that having a peaceful sleep with involuntary Parkinson’s movements is quite disturbing. Body posture changes during sleep. And Parkinson’s can significantly hinder a peaceful sleep session at night.

Data shows us that around 2 out of 3 individuals suffering from Parkinson’s disease have trouble sleeping. The intensity of sleepless sessions depends upon the intensity of Parkinson’s itself for a patient. According to some studies, trouble with sleeping is also a significant early indicator of potential Parkinson’s risk.

To help you enjoy a peaceful sleep session at night, even with Parkinson’s, here are some practices that can help you a lot in this regard,

Avoid Caffeine Before Going To Bed

Caffeine is known for targeting certain brain regions to boost brain activity unnaturally. You willingly intake Caffeine so you can work for longer hours than usual.

But taking Caffeine right before bed can severely disturb your sleep cycle, eventually resulting in prolonged trouble with sleeping. That’s why it is better to avoid Caffeine before bedtime, especially if you are suffering from Parkinson’s.

Keep the Bed Clean and Comfy

The human sleep cycle is based on interactions between multiple brain interfaces and regions. For example, the brain receives signals from the whole body that stimulates the sleep cycle in the first place. These signals include relaxing and comfy stimuli as well. 

Now, if you keep your bed clean and comfy, the brain will automatically sync in with the fact that it is time to sleep. 

The brain will slowly start getting into the state of rest as the Parkinson’s affected involuntary movement will also start to lower. A great way to initiate your brain into sleep mode even if you are suffering from Parkinson’s.

Relax your Body

Now, this is something you already know is crucial to enjoying a peaceful sleep session. But if we talk about this in the context of someone suffering from Parkinson’s, things aren’t that simple. The involuntary movement can easily disrupt the sleep session even if the individual is changing sides during sleep.

To prevent this from happening, the best approach is to relax your body before bed. Take some time and stretch the body muscles and joints. This will be a great approach to release any kind of pressure and fatigue stored within the body due to a hectic day.

Sleep in a Moderate Temperature Environment

The surrounding temperature plays a crucial role in deciding how your body will react to the environment. As someone suffering from Parkinson’s, neither extremely high nor extremely low environment temperature will be suitable. 

This is because, in extremely low temperatures, involuntary movements will simply increase due to the added factor of shivering. And in case of extremely high temperatures, excessive sweating will automatically make enjoying a peaceful sleep session almost impossible.

Build a Solid Bedtime Routine

Last but not least is the power of an exceptional bedtime routine. But remember, a bedtime routine means that to enjoy a peaceful sleep at night, it will become mandatory for you to tick mark all the steps of the routine. The reason behind this is that the body will be programmed into activating the sleep cycle once the routine is completed.

There are many factors or steps that you can add to your bedtime routine. Reading a few pages from a book, applying skin care products, using scented candles, etc. You can also customize the routine to fit with Parkinson’s patterns.

Also, you have to check out my post on When Did Michael J. Fox Get Parkinsons? 

Final Note

Without a doubt dealing with Parkinson’s is not uncomplicated. But let’s look at the overall impact of the disease.

We can tell that the disease has some prominent psychological impacts and disturbs the regular body functioning and cycles, such as the sleep cycle. Fortunately, some ways can help you fall asleep. We have listed them for you to try.