Jan 15, 2019
Most people with Parkinson’s disease have trouble getting a good night’s sleep due to an inability to fall asleep, stay asleep, or get back to sleep if awoken at night. Causes of this sleep discomfort may be a combination of symptoms of the disease, medications to control those symptoms, a poor sleep environment or bedtime habits, and changes in the brain that can affect mood, thinking, and the sleep-wake cycle. Fortunately, there are things that people and their health care providers can do to help mitigate the problems. Anne-Louise LaFontaine, Director of the McGill University Movement Disorders Clinic in Montreal, Canada, a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence, discusses the problems and offers solutions.