sleep

Non-pharmacological interventions such as mindfulness and exercise may improve sleep for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) while boosting overall psychological well-being and quality of life, according to a meta-analysis of several studies. While the studies were very different from each other, making it difficult to draw reliable conclusions, the…

Rest isn’t optional in this house. It’s practically an Olympic event! And I live with five feline competitors. They’re furry, opinionated, and deeply committed to the art of doing nothing, whether it’s melting into a patch of sunlight, sprawling across my keyboard, or staging a nightly takeover of the recliner.

While people with multiple sclerosis (MS) seem to get a similar quantity of sleep relative to individuals without the disease, MS patients have significantly worse sleep quality than their healthy counterparts, according to a new review of several published studies. The findings show that MS may affect a person’s…

I’d tricked myself into thinking I was a night owl for decades. Studying came more easily during those dark, quiet, and still hours. So did going out to nightclubs to dance, meet strangers, and feel a little more anonymous and a lot less self-conscious. When that phase of around-the-clock studying…

What’s a reliable way to wreck your mood? Fighting your circadian rhythms. I’m a recovering night owl. I used to get more done between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. than I did in the other 20 hours of the day. I routinely studied past 2 a.m. during college and…

Taking melatonin before bedtime may help balance and muscle strength in people living with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study from Tunisia. Those benefits are in addition to making for more restful sleep. While the findings come from a small number of patients, they suggest melatonin supplements may…

Nabiximols, a cannabis-based oral spray sold as Sativex, was reported to considerably ease spasticity — unusual muscle tightness or stiffness — in about two-thirds of the multiple sclerosis (MS) patients using it for three months in a real-world study in Germany. For most patients, the treatment also…

I feel like I’ve written a lot of negative, maybe even depressing, columns lately. While multiple sclerosis (MS) can be a pretty negative and depressing subject, I’m normally a bit more upbeat. We’ve been having cold and gloomy weather lately, and I’d like to blame my low spirits on…

Elderly adults with multiple sclerosis (MS) who adhere more to a Mediterranean diet tend to have less severe disability and fewer mental health, sleep, and cognitive problems, according to a new study. “This study has provided evidence that adopting [a Mediterranean diet] at higher levels was associated with lower…

Targeting genes that control the daily activity cycle of cells that are responsible for repairing myelin in the brain and spinal cord may be a useful strategy for treating multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study shows. Findings also point to a potential link between myelin disorders such as MS…

In children with pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (POMS), poor sleep quality is linked to fatigue, depression, and worse quality of life, a study has found. While no significant differences in sleep measures were identified between children and adolescents with MS compared with those without the neurodegenerative condition, sleep can have…

The use of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) does not seem to affect sleep quality or daytime sleepiness in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), an Australian study finds. However, patients with a belief that DMT use impacted their sleep tended to have poorer sleep quality and report that the medication…

For most of the past six years, I’ve been suffering from that weekly journo disease known as “columnitis.” One column is finished, hurrah! Bathe in the relief of getting that one in the net. (It’s a football reference, American “Ted Lasso” finale fans.) We’ve also just had the…

My sleep schedule, according to mathematics, leaves me 11 hours — so what’s my problem? My current ultra-efficient carers arrive at 9:30 a.m. and usually get me into the wet room 15 minutes later. Maybe 20 if my bottom has been misbehaving. It’s been something of a miscreant ever since…

Note: This story was updated March 29, 2023, to correct that cognitive function was assessed via questions about memory and three other cognition outcomes. Sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and sleepiness may contribute to self-reported cognitive decline in women with multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study suggests.

I may not be able to turn in circles like a dog anymore, but I still have a few bedtime routines. Before I had an intrathecal baclofen pump, multiple sclerosis-induced spasticity would wake me up multiple times during the night. Whenever that happened, it was next to…

Welcome to “MS News Notes,” a weekly Monday morning column where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. Here’s a look at what’s been happening: A protein to restore myelin? I usually don’t like to comment on stories about mouse studies, because…

Teenagers with poor sleep quality or insufficient sleep — those who sleep less than seven hours a night — are 40% to 50% more likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS) later in life than those who get adequate rest, according to a Swedish population-based study. Differences in sleep timing…

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and a good night’s sleep seem to be mutually exclusive. I seriously doubt that anyone with MS will reply in the comments that the disease has blessed them with the best sleep of their lives. Yet I used the word “seem” because when writing about any…

In this installment of our “Expert Voices” series, Multiple Sclerosis News Today asked Alexa Kane to answer some of your questions about how sleep affects multiple sclerosis (MS) and vice versa. Kane is a clinical health psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis for Treatment and…

Greater feelings of social support predicted better sleep quality in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) during the COVID-19 pandemic, a study shows. Specifically, greater help with daily tasks and more leisure activities with others were the types of social support identified, after adjusting for potential influencing factors, as…

Treatment with cannabis-based medications may ease muscle spasms, decrease pain, and aid in sleep for people with multiple sclerosis (MS), but more research is needed to evaluate the potential benefits of cannabis use. That is the finding of a team of U.S. researchers who published a review paper, “…

Taking the hormone melatonin may increase overall sleep quality in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a clinical trial found. The compound, available as an over-the-counter dietary supplement, was particularly effective at extending sleep time in patients. Of note, sleep time decreased with age, meaning that “younger participants may have…

I had a great night’s sleep the other night. I fell asleep quickly and slept straight through the night for nearly seven hours. When I got up in the morning, I felt refreshed, which is exceedingly rare these days. Plus, it even happened a few more times in the past…

The light of the television screen illuminates the darkness. I want so much to sleep, but my body has other plans. After a hot shower and multiple medications, my legs continue to dance. The constant ache, twitch, and kick are a rhythmic routine. But my body is tired and…

Sleep deprivation may worsen memory in people with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) or relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a new observational study suggests. A link also was observed between a lack of sleep and worse cognitive efficiency in early MS, but that association was caused by the worse moods…

Restless legs syndrome, the name given to the considerable discomfort people feel in their lower limbs, accompanied by an irresistible urge to move them, more frequently affects multiple sclerosis (MS) patients than the general public, and significantly impacts sleep quality, a case control study shows. While the type of MS treatment used…

Despite the melatonin and Kava tea, the hot baths and weighted blanket, I’m not sleeping very well these days. I haven’t been for months actually. In addition to the “low-burn” stresses that come with adulthood and the utterly average cares of the workaday world, I have felt a…

In a nationwide survey of cannabis-based therapy use among Americans with multiple sclerosis (MS), almost half of respondents endorsed such products, primarily for nerve-based pain and sleep disturbances, and the perceived benefits for sleep and pain were highly correlated.  The reported…

Fatigue is the most impactful symptom on daily functioning in people with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) and is more severe in patients with relapse, pain, depression, and sleep disorders, according to a U.S.-based survey. The results were based mostly on a new MS-specific tool called the Fatigue Symptoms…