Podcast: Investigating Light Therapy For Sleep and Motor Function in People with PD with Beatrix Feigl

Sleep disturbances like insomnia, daytime sleepiness, and REM sleep behavior disorder are common in people with Parkinson's disease (PD), and poor sleep quality can worsen motor function. Research has shown that melanopsin cells in the retina, which send light signals to the brain to initiate sleep, are impaired in PD. Dr. Beatrix Feigl and her team developed a new light therapy that specifically targets these cells. In a recent study, they evaluated the effectiveness of this therapy on sleep, circadian rhythm, and motor behaviors in PD patients. Dr. Feigl, an expert in ophthalmology and biomedical sciences, discusses these findings and her earlier work that established methods to assess melanopsin cell function.