Yawning, sleep, and symptom relief in patients with multiple sclerosis
Received 16 July 2009; received in revised form 3 December 2009; accepted 4 December 2009.
Abstract
Background
Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) suffer from thermoregulatory dysfunction, and repetitive yawning and sleep problems are symptoms of MS. Because yawning and sleep are involved in thermoregulation, we investigated the association between yawning, sleep, and symptom relief in patients with MS.
Methods
Sixty patients filled out a questionnaire about how often they yawned, whether yawning provided relief of MS symptoms, and how sleep affected these symptoms.
Results
Results showed that over one in three patients reported that their MS symptoms improved following a yawn, and of those experiencing relief, nearly half reported that it lasted for several minutes or longer. Not getting a good night’s sleep often made MS symptoms worse, while napping during the day provided symptom relief.
Conclusion
This is the first study showing that yawning provides symptom relief in patients with multiple sclerosis.
ABSTRACT