Sleep matters, I know that and my husband knows that. I sleep best in a dark room but he needs to be able to see where he is going if he needs to get up at night. We have night lights in most of our rooms, including the master bed and bathroom. I learned in a recent Davis Phinney Foundation webinar that red night lights are less disruptive to sleep. We are working to replace our current night lights with red to see if it helps. It’s a little change that could have a big impact if I’m able to sleep better. 

Speaking of sleep, as my husband’s symptoms progressed it became more difficult for him to roll over in bed at night. We had heard that satin sheets helped so we bought a set. The challenge then became staying in bed and not slipping out when trying to turn over. His solution became what we call his slip and slide. He places just the satin pillow case on the bed under his midsection. It gives him the smoothness he needs to be able to move and yet has the rest of the bedding to provide stability.

When brushing his teeth became difficult, we both bought simple $10 battery operated toothbrushes to see how they would work. Now, all my husband has to do is basically hold the handle in his mouth, the brush heads do the rest of the work. It seems to be helping.

These ideas aren’t huge but are making a huge impact on the quality of our daily living. Don’t let the challenges of PD become overwhelming, instead look to the easiest solutions first. So often it is the little changes we make that can help the most.