Many people with Huntington’s disease have trouble sleeping. Managing or treating the problems directly may be beneficial. Find some simple tips on how to improve sleep below.
Short-term sleep deprivation has no lasting damage, but it impacts mood. Without enough sleep, people become irritable, unreasonable and short-tempered.
At HDBuzz we can read that people with Huntington frequently suffer from sleep abnormalities and that this dysfunction may actually be part of the range of symptoms in Huntington’s disease.
However, a significant percentage of the population suffers sleep disruption due to personal habits. We stay up too late, we take drugs that interfere with sleep and we over-stimulate ourselves with late-night activities.
But there is good news: there are already well-established treatments for sleep disturbance.
Many medications can cause sleeplessness as a side effect. Ask your doctor if the medication you are taking can lead to this. However, it’s important that you don’t stop taking the medication without seeking the advice of your doctor.
Other times drug treatment might help. Sometimes your doctor will prescribe sleep medicine that will help you. This does not have to be a long-term treatment. Sometimes a short period of treatment is enough to help reestablish good sleeping patterns.
As well as drug treatments, there are recognized, scientifically sound self-help strategies for improving sleep:
Many medications can cause sleeplessness as a side effect. Ask your doctor if the medication you are taking can lead to this. However, it’s important that you don’t stop taking the medication without seeking the advice of your doctor.
Other times drug treatment might help. Sometimes your doctor will prescribe sleep medicine that will help you. This does not have to be a long-term treatment. Sometimes a short period of treatment is enough to help reestablish good sleeping patterns.
As well as drug treatments, there are recognized, scientifically sound self-help strategies for improving sleep:
If you don’t fall asleep within 15-30 minutes, try getting up and go into another room. Sit quietly, read, listen to the radio, have a drink or a light snack, do a quiet activity such as a crossword puzzle, or take a bath. Do not use your computer or watch television.
After 20 minutes or so, go back to bed.
Remember that your sleeping time starts at your chosen bedtime. If you don’t sleep, you shouldn’t roll your wake-up time forward to compensate. You should get up 8 hours after you went to bed.
Tuck Sleep have designed products to promote better sleep for people with neurological disorders. Find their products by clicking the button below.