After getting a poor night’s sleep, anyone would agree that good sleep makes a huge difference in day-to-day life. (Just ask any student who has stayed up all night to cram for a test…or anyone with a newborn baby.) It’s so critical that there’s an awareness week dedicated exclusively to sleep! So during this Sleep Awareness Week, March 9th through 15th, we’re sounding the alarm on sleep issues related to Huntington’s disease (HD) by sharing new research that suggests sleep-related changes may be happening even earlier than we previously thought.
Your brain needs sleep!
Sleep problems are common in people with HD after they begin to experience symptoms. We know that people with HD tend to have less deep sleep and insomnia is really common - in fact, 88% of people with the HD gene report having disturbed sleep. But much less is known about whether sleep issues also occur in people with the gene for HD before symptoms arise.