jennyb

[jenwin]

I was diagnosed only recently but have some idea of what to expect as my late mother was a sufferer. At the moment insomnia is a problem I am wrestling with - is it safe to take over the counter medication such as Nytol?

[12Maxwell3]

For me I have a prescription for night but at Times I will add Excedrin pm . For me, it is helping with the Prescription

[asmckay]

There;s a correlation between lack of deep sleep and development of PD - and REM sleep also is often disturbed. To sleep well, and be as well rested as possible, we need enough deep sleep and enough REM. Sleeping pills tend to reduce the amount of deep sleep that we have, even where they extend the length of our sleep. So they can be good to break a pattern, but not a long term solution. i think it is worth doing what we can to deepen the quality of our sleep naturally - eating root vegetables has been shown to do that, and sugar has been shown to lead to lighter and more interrupted sleep. I also think that improving our gut biome helps - and these things are good for PD in other ways too. I think that other ways of slowing down the brain might help - mindfulness, yoga nidra, breathing exercises. Mostly, I hate the kind of articles which give lists that are supposed to change our lives, but I thought this one quite good telegraph.co.uk/health-fitn... . I work with sleep and have a former partner with PD - so think about it a lot. If you look at my previous posts you will see more references to work we have done with sleep including with people with PD and you will find my own general sleep tips at zeez.org.uk/sleep-tips-2/ Good Luck!

[ge1shh in reply to asmckay]

Dear ASMckay - I have become addicted to falling asleep with my radio on, with an earphone in one ear (I mainly lie on the other side). Sometimes my sleep is disturbed because I wake and start listening properly to something interesting! But if I try to do without the radio, unless I'm really very tired, it can take ages to fall asleep, so I give in and switch on and usually fall asleep within minutes. Do you thonk its harmful to have the radio (spoken word, not music) in my ear all night! I think it might lead to less deep sleep even though it does help me sleep.

[asmckay in reply to ge1shh]

Hello! I sympathise. And you are right, your radio will be interfering with deep sleep. This is what I'd do: get an IPOD or tablet (something that you can run on batteries, which don't disturb our sleep in the same way as electricity) and upload podcasts - I suggest the same programmes that you normally listen to). Limit the time - my guess is that 20 mins would probably be enough - experiment. That way you also avoid radio waves (sleep damaging) and you give your brain the opportunity to fall into deep sleep at the proper time in your sleep cycle. I'd love to hear how you get on. Thanks for the question - I shall y use it as inspiration for a post on my facebook page. Anna

[ge1shh in reply to asmckay]

Thanks! I did try something like this once. When the sound switched off, the change, ie lack, of sound seemed to make me wake up! I reset it, and same thing happened again - woke after the podcast finished. But I should give it another go. Will let you know how I get on. Will try a longer period of recording before it stops.

[asmckay in reply to ge1shh]

Good idea. And even if you fiun that you need the sour all the tijkme, you;ll be much better off with podcasts than the radio

[Enidah in reply to ge1shh]

I have been doing that for years to get to sleep, listening to audiobooks. It's like being read to when you're a little kid. I listen to them on my tablet and I set the timer so they go off after 30 minutes. A great help to get to sleep. As long as the book isn't exciting.

[ge1shh in reply to Enidah]

Yes, it helps if it's a bit boring! Sometimes I fall asleep at an interesting bit , and if it's the radio, it can be quite annoying to miss the ending!

[Enidah in reply to ge1shh]

That's funny! I have listened to the same section of an audiobook half a dozen times because I keep falling asleep. The next night I just set it back to the same point and start the timer.

[jenwin]

I do the same

[jenwin]

Shall do as you suggest. Many thanks Anna