You know what's wild? They say that sleep is the best medicine, but clearly Parkinson's did not get that memo. Falling asleep? Hard. Staying asleep? Forget it. Don't even get me started on 3 a.m. bathroom breaks, cramping legs, and dreams that feel like action movies. Well, if you've ever just stared at the ceiling at 3 o'clock in the morning thinking, what the hell is going on with my body? Well, guess what? You're not alone, and that's what we're gonna talk about today, so let's get into this right now. Hey friends, welcome back to Living with Parkinson's, the good, the bad, and the reality. I'm Bryce, and today we're diving into something that affects just about every single one of us, and that's sleep, or actually, the lack of it. Now listen, before Parkinson's, I never gave much, like I didn't give much thought to sleep. I really didn't. I'd crash at the end of the day, and that was that. But now, getting a solid night's sleep feels like trying to win the lottery, while being, oh my God, I just thought it was my head. That's just crazy. Anyway, but now, getting a good night's sleep tonight, it's like winning the lottery and being chased by raccoons in my pajamas. And I'm laughing because that was actually a dream I had. So anyway, so I want to share with you what I've learned along the way, what's messed up my sleep, and what's actually helped me rest, and the one surprising shift that changed everything for me. And yeah, I'll tell you what didn't work too, because let's be honest, there's a lot of advice out there that sounds good, but it actually does nothing. So let's get right in here, and I'm going to talk about this, like why is sleep so hard? Like really, why? And I asked myself, like I literally, some mornings I wake up and going, why is this so hard? This is ridiculous. Well, let's look at things, let's look at this, let's break it down. First things first, why is sleep such a struggle with Parkinson's? Okay, for me, it's a combo platter, right? Stiffness kicks in at night. Okay, I said that really slow, just maybe I'm gonna make it sound like I did it on purpose. Stiffness kicks in at night, right? My legs do this little twitchy dance, like they're trying to audition for Cirque du Soleil, right? And then there's this platter, like clockwork, middle of the night, every night, it's like, huh, I guess I got to get up. And then if that doesn't happen, you know, sometimes I just wake up drenched in sweat. Other times, acting out dreams, like I'm in some bizarre action sequence. And then there's the mental side, right? Racing thoughts, worries, random to-do lists, and you know, that just show up uninvited in my brain, right? It's like my body's tired, but my mind just won't shut up. Does that sound familiar? Any of that sound familiar? Well, let me share what's helped me get to at least, you know, a decent amount of rest. And I preface this by saying this, that, you know, I've been diagnosed again for over 15 years. And if you're new to the channel, welcome, thank you, or thanks for joining us. Something is just happening, we're just exploding here, just started not that long ago. And so welcome. So let me share a little bit about my journey. And I won't share a lot because there's a lot of videos and you can go catch up and let's, let's catch up so we can go together this way. But I've been diagnosed almost 15 years. And when I first, I would say like the first five or maybe the five or six years, I would, there was probably like every couple of months, I would have this day that I was so tired, that I was so, so tired, but then I couldn't sleep. And it's such a weird type of I can't sleep, right? It's not like I think anybody would understand. I think that if, and I think that's probably an issue, like you probably maybe have somebody in your life, if you do, who's saying, you know, just try to sleep or try this or try that, or, you know, just, you know, count sheep or, you know, count to 99 backwards. And I don't think they don't, if you don't go through what we go through, then you really don't just, it's just, I can't explain it. But it's like, I'm just awake. It's like the daytime for me. There's, there's not even a closeness. I am not going to sleep, but I know it. And it's, it's crazy. And so anyway, I used to have those like maybe once or twice a month, maybe in the beginning, maybe a month, once a month in the beginning. And as I progressed, you know, a couple of times a month, and, or if I was extremely tired, I traveled a lot with my, my, my job back in the first five to 10 years of my diagnosis. And I would, if I traveled a lot, I would, I would just be completely exhausted. And I would be so exhausted, I'd fall asleep for a little bit, maybe a quick nap. And then I'd get to bed, and I'd just lie there cursing at the ceiling, because I'm just staring at the ceiling. And I'm thinking, well, I can't get out of bed, because if I get out of bed, it's gonna make it worse. If I move around, it's gonna be worse. And, you know, eventually, I just kind of ended up just getting out of bed, because there's, might as well work or do something productive, because I'm just lying here staring at a blank ceiling. But as time progressed, I started getting them maybe once a week. And there are weeks now that when I'm not really on my game, and I'm not really, you know, doing a lot of self care, and, you know, let's be honest, we can all get there sometimes, I can go two nights in a row, three nights in a row a week of just not sleeping. So it's really important we get our sleep. And I know that you're watching this, you're probably thinking, yeah, me too, or yeah, me too. And if you're sitting here going, hey, never ever even worried about this, well, then don't, don't go away, because, again, Parkinson's, unfortunately, is a progressive disease. And so if you're not dealing with this now, you might have to deal with it later, or you probably will have to deal with it later. So you might as well get some tips now. And what I've learned, what I've learned with my journey, and again, just remember, they're my tips. It's what works for me, but hopefully you can get something, maybe one or two tips, or, and maybe they all work, and maybe they don't. You know, again, we're all snowflakes, right? We're all a little bit different. And what works for me might not work for you. But, but I'll tell you this, everybody that I've talked to that I've kind of shared some, they can always get something, and that something will help. So if you like that, hit the like button, like that. I'm like a YouTuber now. Anyway, anyway, again, thanks. So let me share what's helped for me, right, and at least get me some decent sleep, some decent rest. The thing that I had to learn, first of all, was routine. Now, I'm not a routine-based person. You know, I'm just not. Like, I know, I know, boring, but sticking to the same bedtime and wake-up time has helped more than anything else. Like, it sounds so boring, like a routine. Oh, God, here we go again. You know, it's routine. But it is, it really is. If you have, if you try your very, very best to get up at the same time every day, and go to bed at the same time every night, and whether that's weekend, during the week, it doesn't matter, do it, right, and try to get into that schedule, right. And that does a huge part. It's helped me enormously. And I'm not saying it's easy. I struggle with that, or there's an event going on or whatnot. So no one's perfect at it, nor will you be, but do the best of your ability, right. And then the other part to that, too, is I try to wind down. Like, I have to wind down. So a lot of us get into bed, and part of our wind-down is laying there trying to sleep. And that, that's not conducive to your brain. So try to wind down. And when I say that, I mean, without screens. I mean, without, like, your little phone going, or your iPad, or your app, or whatever, your app, your iPad, or your phone, or whatever it is, the television, you know, like, you know, on the wall in the bedroom, or wherever you are. And, and if you're watching this trying to sleep, just bear with me a few minutes, and then we'll, we'll, don't turn it off yet. But then we'll let you go. And, and hopefully, you're gonna get that rest, rest after this. But wind down without screens, right. And then maybe do a stretch a little, like, just a little bit of stretching, like, and I mean, I don't mean anything rigorous, but you know, just like I stretch out those muscles, they're stiff, they're sore, it's been a long day, sore, they're sore, and it's been a long day. So stretch them out a bit. And then do some breathing, like, lie in bed and just do some, some pattern reading where it's like that deep breath in, you know, and inhale with your nose and exhale with your, your, your mouth, right? Inhale with your nose, exhale with your, with your mouth, right? Nothing fancy, but just consistent. Okay, nothing fancy, but consistent. So again, get that routine in order. Plan this into your routine, just a couple little things, stretch it out. You're doing a little mind relaxing, if you don't realize what you're doing, but a little mind relaxing, a little body relaxing, right? Keep the room cooled and dark, right? And you know, some of you might need some white noise. I have a fan that goes off, makes this weird noise and irritates me during the day and somehow kind of helps me at night. So for me, anyway, a cool room because I'm, again, profusely sweat at night. So the cooler I keep it, even some cool sheets. And if you don't know what cool sheets and cool bedding are, I'll put a link in the description below, you can check that out. But they work, they work really, really well. And again, dark, dark space, turn the television off, turn the lights off and get going. So, but these three things are magic, right? I use the fan, not for breeze, but for the sound. And it helps keep, it helps quiet the noise in my head, right? The light stretching before the bed, it's been great for my legs. And it's not about becoming a yogi. It's not about becoming a yogi, just enough to tell my body, hey, we're done for the day. What you're really doing, it's like, have you ever heard the Pavlov's, you know, you ring the bell, the dog eats, you ring the bell, the dog eats, ring the bell, the dog eats, you're trying to get your body into, like you're setting off signals to your body that you're going to bed, right? Signals your body. So that little stretch before bed, just to do it the same every night, the same, and try to do it at the same time. And really what you're telling your body is I'm getting ready for bed, those deep breathing, I'm getting ready for bed, right? That it's amazing what it does. And then what I do as well, just some added stuff. And you can see that in the video. I think it was the last video we just did or the video before. I do the spray, I do the whatever spray on my on my feet. Again, all the links are in the description. Check it out. It's what works for me. You can also check out that video about what works for me the best. And that's one of the things. It's the magnesium spray that I thought my wife was nuts when she bought it for me and now I'm so thankful for it. And then melatonin, right? Sometimes helpful, sometimes not. Doesn't work for me. But talk to your doctor if you think about using it. And that's a big thing. I would try it. It doesn't hurt to try it. Again, just for me, it made me groggy in the morning, but maybe it's worth a while to give it a shot. So get that routine in order, try to keep your routine consistent. The other thing you want to do is I time my meds better, right? And you might have to look at that as well as timing those meds better, right? That can be a total game changer. Once I figured out how my evening dose lined up my sleep window, things got way better for me, like way better for me. And now the other thing I do and I kind of I didn't, I didn't share this on my medication video, like the first to five to 10 to 15 years, but I'm taking a slow-release cap of levodopa at night. And a reason why I didn't bring it up yet, and I'm not really gonna bring it up that much right now, is just I'm just trying it out. So I want to try it first, see how it works for me so that I can guide you, oops, I can guide you better and give you some some answers on that. So I am trying that as well. So again, hit that magnesium spray, try the melatonin, but again, get that routine in order. Okay, well here's something that that didn't work for me, right? I'll tell you some stuff that didn't work, I might as well be honest. And then here's that honesty part, like I've tried some stuff that sounded amazing, but it totally flopped for me. One would be CBD oil, you know, everybody was talking about it, everybody's like, you got to try it, you got to try it, my kids are like, you got to try it, everybody's like, you got to try it, it's not, you know, this, it's not, you know what, it's not the wahoo, whatever you call that, but you have to do it, it'll be a game, it'll just gonna change your life. And I tried it and nothing happened, like nothing changed and maybe it works for some, but not from, not for this guy, anyway, not for this guy, but maybe it works for you, I don't know, maybe in the comments, let me know what's working for you, is it, have you tried CBD oil, does it work, does it not work? Maybe I tried the wrong stuff, I don't know, I asked the guy and he gave me the, what he said was for Parkinson's and all I know is it just, it was a, I dripped it in my mouth, like it was a, like a thing, and I might as well have just dripped water in there, just did nothing for me, but anyway, it might be working for you. The other thing I tried that I didn't like, and I didn't like at all, was a weighted blanket, and because people were telling me try to wake up, get a weighted blanket, try the weighted blanket, well I did, I tried, I try everything, like my philosophy in life is you might as well try, right, you might as well try and they always, you know, you, they always say that, you know, reach for the stars and if you, if you miss it, maybe just get to the moon, but I'm always gonna give something a shot, if it's healthy and safe and my doctor says it's good to go, I'll try it, so the weighted blanket for me, it felt like I was being pinned down by like a, like when I was like a young dad, like by my stubborn toddlers, like it was just crazy, I just felt pinned down and I get claustrophobic and oh my god, I was like losing, I was almost losing my mind, I was like, why did I even do this, I'm going nuts, I couldn't move my, wiggle my toes, oh my god, it was awful, so that didn't work, so that, at all, and the other thing that people tried to tell me to use was sleep teas, like the, the teas, like teas that are, with the, that are supposed to make, help you sleep, that to me just tastes like hot disappointment, right, I just, just, I still woke up five times that night and then I had to pee three more times, so obviously it didn't work that well for me, but again, those may work for you, they just didn't work for me and for me, they just weren't worth the hype, so if you want to try them, try them and I'd really like, I'd really love to know, if you are using those things that I just talked about, if they are working for you, then please put it in the comments, because I don't want to lead everybody straight, what, it might work, just again, this was the, what worked, it didn't work for me at all, but I want to tell you like the one thing that actually helped me the most, right, you know what it was, you ready for this, and there's no link in the description below on this one, it was acceptance, what helped me the most, the game-changer for me was, it was acceptance, not giving up, just letting go of that pressure to sleep perfectly, you know, I stopped beating myself up for waking up, right, I stopped lying there feeling tense and frustrated, you know, and now if I'm up, I just get up, I read, I write, I journal, I breathe, and weirdly enough, once I stopped fighting it so hard, I started sleeping better, it was like the craziest dichotomy, the minute I, like literally, have you ever heard that anxiety leads to anxiety, right, you know, it's like someone starts thinking about they don't want to have a panic attack, or they think something might give a panic attack, they start thinking about the panic attack, and then they have a panic attack, the more you lie there thinking about not sleeping and almost getting upset, why me, why can't I sleep, this sucks, I'm tired, I'm gonna be a grumpy tomorrow, you know, no one's gonna like me tomorrow, that type of thing, and if you just accept the fact that it's not gonna happen, like this is the way it is, I've tried, I've got my things in place, I did what I need to do, you know, I tried these things, I got my routine in order, I'm doing the things I need to do, and it's not working, all right, okay, okay, then just get up, get up and do something productive, do up, get up, write in your doctor journal, you know, your diary, your journal, whatever it might be, but you just accept it, and that to me is just radically, radically, radically changed my mind, or my, radically changed my attitude towards it, and it radically actually started helping me sleep, it was crazy, anyway, like that, so yeah, like that's, that's sleep and Parkinson's, it's not exactly our best friend, but they don't have to be our enemy either, the, there are certainly things you can try, and there are patterns you can learn, and there is hope, because getting some rest is always better than none, so here's my challenge to you, drop a comment and tell me what helps you sleep, let's crowdsource these things for some real-life advice for the rest of the community, you never know, your tip might change someone else's night, listen, thanks for hanging out for me, hanging out with me, I love the love, love where we're going, I love the community we're building, I'm glad you're here, and I'll see you next time, because you know what, there's hope, here's hoping tonight, that we all get some damn rest.