OTalk 12th January 2021 – Sleep and neurological conditions

This week’s chat hosted by Jennifer Crow @JenniferNCrow.

Questions will be posted by RCOT Neuro Practice @RCOT_NP

Sleep is essential for health and wellbeing, influencing our mood, behaviour and energy levels and underpinning our ability to engage in meaningful occupations (Tester and Foss, 2018). However, sleep is such an integral part of life that we can often undervalue its importance, until we start to have difficulties sleeping!

Many patients with neurological conditions experience sleep problems which can exacerbate other symptoms and impact on daily life (MS Trust, 2018, PDUK, 2019). As occupational therapists it is therefore important to explore this as part of our assessment and intervention.

The RCOTSS-NP long term conditions forum recently put together a CPD Short Course with RCOT – An introduction to managing sleep for people with neurological conditions. Therefore, we have been thinking about this area of practice and wanted to discuss with you whether this is an area you address with your patients, and if so, ways you are doing this.

Questions to consider:

1. Do you ask your patients about their sleep?
2. What is your understanding of the impact of poor sleep on engagement in occupations?
3. What assessment tools do you use with your patients to help identify factors that may be impacting on sleep?
4. What interventions do you provide to help improve healthy sleep with your patients?

References
• Multiple Sclerosis Trust (2018). Sleep. Available at: https://www.mstrust.org.uk/life-ms/wellbeing/sleep Accessed on 16.12.19
• Parkinson’s UK (2019) Sleep and Parkinson’s. Available at: https://www.parkinsons.org.uk/information-and-support/sleep Accessed on 19.12.19
• Tester NJ, Foss JJ (2018) The Issue Is – Sleep as an occupational need. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 72(1), 1-4.

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