Structured Physical Activity for Sleep Quality and Daytime Sleepiness in Patients With Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic, progressive, neurodegenerative disease that affects 1% of elderly people. Sleep disturbances affect up to 88% of patients with PD and commonly include sleep fragmentation and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS); these symptoms can significantly impair quality of life. The cause of sleep fragmentation and EDS is likely multifactorial, including medications, neurodegeneration, primary sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, and decreased physical activity. Pharmacotherapy in this population is limited due to side effects and drug-drug interactions. The goal of this project is to develop non-pharmacologic therapies for impaired sleep quality and EDS in PD. Sleep disturbances and EDS are common among patients with PD and negatively affect their quality of life. There is data to support a role for physical activity in sleep in older adults with and without insomnia. Additionally, increased physical activity in patients with PD has been associated with improvement in PD motor symptoms and quality of life. Therefore, the investigators propose to examine the ability of structured physical activity to improve sleep quality and daytime sleepiness in patients with PD. The overall objective of the proposed project is to develop behavioral approaches to improve sleep quality and daytime function in PD. The investigators propose to examine the effect of a structured physical activity program and sleep hygiene education on nighttime sleep quality and EDS in patients with idiopathic PD. There will be two groups: 1) a structured physical activity program with sleep hygiene education (SPA group), and 2) a control group receiving only sleep hygiene education (SH group) who will be offered the delayed physical activity program. The investigators hypothesize that the structured physical activity program will improve subjective and objective sleep quality and daytime sleepiness compared to sleep hygiene education alone.