Studies indicate that roughly 60% of Americans struggle with some sort of sleep disorder. There are various REM sleep disorders, but thankfully, various REM sleep disorder treatment options, from lifestyle changes to medical interventions. This article will provide guidance on recovery and long-term management with different treatments for REM sleep behavior disorder.
Understanding REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD)
Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder is a sleep disorder where you have unpleasant dreams whenever you reach REM sleep, and it causes you to act out physically or vocally. The abnormal rapid eye movements and abnormal behaviors can cause significant disruptions to healthy sleep patterns.
Causes and Risk Factors for REM Sleep Disorder
There are several causes and risk factors for REM sleep disorder.
Neurological Factors
There is a strong correlation between REM sleep disorder and neurodegenerative disorders, as well as other neurological factors, which is why it often affects individuals who are older than 50. It is heavily associated with neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, dementia, and multiple system atrophy.
Medications and Substance Use
Medications and substance abuse can interfere with proper sleep, leading to sleep disorders. This is particularly true of antidepressants like SSRIs.
Age and Gender
The average onset for REM sleep disorder is 61. it’s more common in people over the age of 50 and more common in men than women.
Treatment Options for REM Sleep Disorder
Treatment options for REM sleep disorder include things like medication, sleep phase disorder treatment, and lifestyle changes.
Medications for REM Sleep Disorder Treatment
Medications are usually the first line of defense in helping to improve your sleep, especially getting sleep quality under control in the short term while long-term changes go into effect.
Melatonin is a hormone that helps regulate sleep cycles and it’s usually the first treatment given because it comes with the fewest side effects and can be provided over the counter. if it is insufficient it can be combined with other medications.
Clonazepam is an anxiety medication that can be prescribed to reduce symptoms of insomnia.
Other medications include pramipexole, which is a dopamine agonist.
Sleep Phase Disorder Treatment
In addition to medication, sleep phase disorder treatment can also be prescribed. This is a type of treatment that involves a wide range of lifestyle changes as well as light therapy.
Light therapy helps you to control your light exposure in the morning with things like a light box. This helps you shift your sleeping pattern into something that is more regulated using the body’s natural circadian rhythm.
Chronotherapy can be used in conjunction with light therapy and helps you delay your bedtime by roughly 2 hours every day in order to help reset your circadian rhythm.
Behavioral changes can include avoiding electronics roughly 1 hour before bed, changing the amount of blue light emitted in your home, shifting away from things like alcohol or sugary foods in the evenings, and utilizing alternative medicines like transcranial magnetic stimulation.
Lifestyle Changes for Managing RBD
Lifestyle changes can be the easiest things to incorporate and have the most profound impact long-term. Lifestyle changes focus on changing your sleeping habits for the better.
This might include things like the following:
- Turning off all electronics at least one hour before bed and doing activities like meditation, progressive relaxation, gentle stretching or yoga, or reading before bed
- Avoiding caffeinated beverages throughout the day or alcohol in the evening
- Going to sleep at the same time every night and waking up at the same time
- Exercising regularly to help improve sleep
- Changing the diet to support healthy sleep
- Keeping good sleep hygiene and a supportive sleeping environment.
For some people, a change like avoiding the bedroom for any activity other than sleep can help reset negative connections between the brain, the bed, and sleep. For other people, changing those connections and resetting the relationship between sleep and the bedroom happens by getting out of bed whenever insomnia strikes for more than 20 minutes so that the bed is not associated with an inability to sleep and only returning to bed after doing something calming like reading or meditating.
The Role of Therapy in REM Sleep Disorder Recovery
For many people, the center of treatment for REM sleep disorder hinges on therapy.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)
Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia is the primary form of treatment. According to the Sleep Foundation, this treatment plan involves stimulus control, relaxation training, and sleep restriction to help reduce insomnia and improve the quality of sleep.
With this approach, you can focus on restructuring unhelpful thoughts you have about sleep while also controlling stimuli before bed and learning about the connection between your thoughts, behaviors, and sleep.
Counseling for Neurological Conditions
Counseling for neurological conditions can help with recovery or management of symptoms. It is common to get treatment for mood disorders, anxiety, ADHD, or depression with a wide range of psychotherapy, including cognitive behavioral therapy.
Long-Term Management of REM Sleep Disorder
With any sleep phase disorder treatment, long-term management is required.
Monitoring and Regular Check-Ups
This starts with monitoring and regular check-ups. Regular check-ups with your doctor can go a long way toward ensuring things like therapy, medication, and lifestyle changes are having the impact you want.
If at any point your current REM sleep disorder treatment isn’t providing the relief it once did, regular check-ups and monitoring will catch that early so that you have a chance to alter your current treatment plan into something that is more effective.
Managing Coexisting Conditions
It is very common for people with REM Sleep Disorders to have co-occurring conditions. Some studies have found that 38% of men over the age of 50 had a co-occurring condition.
To that end, an important part of successful treatment for REM sleep behavior disorder is to ensure co-occurring conditions are properly managed. Those can be legitimate mental health conditions or physical health conditions as well as things like daily stress from a demanding job.
If you are diagnosed with physical health conditions like chronic pain, it’s important to review the type of medication you are prescribed and verify whether that medication has a detrimental impact on your sleeping behaviors. If so, you might need to consider alternate medication.
Similarly, if you are diagnosed with a mental health condition, treatment for REM sleep disorder might involve therapy that could be equally useful in treating the underlying Mental Health condition.
The more you work to incorporate co-occurring treatment for all co-occurring conditions, the more successful treatment will be across the board.
Preventing Relapses and Maintaining Sleep Quality
Working with regular check-ups and managing coexisting conditions means you can improve the quality of your sleep and help prevent relapses.
Conclusion
Overall, you can find treatment for REM sleep disorder, including medications, lifestyle changes, and therapy. Given the propensity for sleep disruptions to damage other parts of life, it is important to get early intervention and comprehensive care in managing and recovering from REM sleep disorder.