JAMA: Light Therapy Improves Sleep for Parkinson’s Disease Patients

Many people with Parkinson’s disease have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep at night and as a result, have excessive daytime sleepiness that affects their quality of life. Treatments to date have been disappointing. A randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical intervention study, the results of which were published in JAMA Neurology, found that carefully timed exposure to bright light improved sleep quality. It may help people with Parkinson’s disease to maintain a healthy sleep-wake cycle and could help people to sleep better at night and increase alertness during the day, both of which improve a person’s quality of life. Overall, the study concluded that light therapy may be a feasible intervention and further studies are required to determine the optimal parameters for light therapy.