b'MS Focus Activitiesof these conditions as they age but this wouldchronicallyfatiguedandneedmoresleep not be MS-related. than they are getting. If this sounds like you, People with MS can develop cataracts soonerplease have a discussion with your neurologist if they have been the recipient of steroids toor primary care provider and ask to have a manage relapses. The likelihood of thissleep study done. People with MS with sleep happening increases with each subsequentdisruptions may also report increased bladder course of steroids. While many individualsactivity that wakes them during the night living with MS may experience optic neuritisor spasticity and pain, which wakes them as a result of their MS, and this might result infrequently. These are more likely MS related a loss of some portion of vision, it is generallyrather than aging. only in one eye and can be anywhere in theTemperature regulationeye. Macular degeneration affects both eyesThoselivingwithMSareoftenheat and erodes the vision in the center of the eyes.sensitive and cannot be outdoors in the summer MS does not cause glaucoma, presbyopia, oror sleep well in a room that is not cool. This cataracts. Steroid use may increase the risk ofgenerally tempers a bit with age, becoming cataracts but MS itself does not cause them. less pronounced. Some of this may be related Sleep to reproductive hormone levels lowering as a Although persons living with MS reportnatural function of aging in both men and sleep problems at a far higher rate than thewomen starting around age 50-55. Hot general population, between the ages of 60flashes often accompany this decline in and 80 healthy older individuals report theyhormones in women and are totally separate seem to need less sleep than they did whenfrom MS heat sensitivity.they were younger. This is more pronouncedPeople with MS generally can tolerate warm in those who are no longer working regularly.temperatures for several minutes before Our bodies tend to need less restorative downUthoffs Sign (heat-related worsening of MS time or shuteye when we are not physicallysymptoms) kicks in. With a hot ash, there is or intellectually challenging them. So, whilea sudden sense of being enveloped in heat one may feel they need eight hours of sleepaccompanied by a head-to-toe physical ushing each night in their 30s through their 50s,and maybe even sweating that resolves by the time most people reach their 60s orwithin a few minutes, whereas Uthoffs may retirement, they may need six or seven hourstake hours to fully resolve as the body cools. to function well the following day. And manyMost healthy aging adults complain more of individuals, by the time they reach 75-80 arebeing cold sensitive than heat intolerant. only needing four or ve hours a night. CognitionPeople living with MS have a very highCognitive changes in MS are unlike those rate of sleep disturbance as a result of livingthat present in early Alzheimers disease. MS with the condition. Because of lower activitycognitive changes include brain fog, word rates,bodyweightsmaybehigherthanretrieval problems, and a slowing of thinking healthy counterparts and sleep apnea entersspeed and task completion. In early Alzheimers, the picture, making them feel like they arethere is a loss of recent memory that does not msfocusmagazine.org 42'