Morning lighting intervention reduces fatigue and improves sleep in Parkinson disease
- 1Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Beth Israel, 521 W 57th St. Flr 6, New York, NY, 10019, USA
- 2Light and Health Research Center, Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 1425 Madison Ave Flr 2, New York, NY, 10029, USA
Abstract
Fatigue and sleep disturbances are common in Parkinson Disease (PD) and significantly reduce quality of life, yet effective pharmacological treatments are limited. Light therapy offers a promising non-pharmacologic approach, but most lighting interventions have focused on improving sleep. Using a novel and easily administered morning lighting intervention, we previously demonstrated improvement in sleep duration. We have now extended the prior study through the addition of 23 individuals to investigate the intervention's effect on fatigue and sleep. In this single-arm intervention study, participants received morning light for 4 consecutive weeks from table or floor luminaires designed to deliver circadian-effective ambient light at home. Objective sleep was measured with wrist-worn actigraphy and subjective sleep, fatigue and mood were assessed using standardized questionnaires. Analysis of pre and post intervention data for the current cohort was performed separately as well as in combination with the 20 participants from the previously reported pilot study. For the 23 current participants, fatigue on the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F) scale improved by 3.9 ± 1.00 points (p = 0.0026). While sleep duration increased by mean 21.3 ± 14.4 min, it was not statistically significant (p = 0.082). When combined with the 20 participants from the prior pilot study, significant improvement in fatigue by 2.8 ± 0.85 points (p = 0.0033) was observed and sleep duration was also significantly increased by 24.7 ± 10.4 min (p = 0.012). These findings support morning light as a novel intervention for fatigue in PD.
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BibTeX
@article{park2026morning,
title = {{Morning lighting intervention reduces fatigue and improves sleep in Parkinson disease}},
author = {Jade S. Park and Mengxi Yang and Melba Beltre and Deborah Raymond and Emmanuel During and Adina Wise and Mariel Pullman and Barbara Plitnick and Susan B. Bressman and Mariana G. Figueiro and Rachel Saunders-Pullman},
journal = {Neurotherapeutics},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.neurot.2026.e01095},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurot.2026.e01095},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Morning lighting intervention reduces fatigue and improves sleep in Parkinson disease
AU - Jade S. Park
AU - Mengxi Yang
AU - Melba Beltre
AU - Deborah Raymond
AU - Emmanuel During
AU - Adina Wise
AU - Mariel Pullman
AU - Barbara Plitnick
AU - Susan B. Bressman
AU - Mariana G. Figueiro
AU - Rachel Saunders-Pullman
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - Neurotherapeutics
DO - 10.1016/j.neurot.2026.e01095
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurot.2026.e01095
AB - Fatigue and sleep disturbances are common in Parkinson Disease (PD) and significantly reduce quality of life, yet effective pharmacological treatments are limited. Light therapy offers a promising non-pharmacologic approach, but most lighting interventions have focused on improving sleep. Using a novel and easily administered morning lighting intervention, we previously demonstrated improvement in sleep duration. We have now extended the prior study through the addition of 23 individuals to investigate the intervention's effect on fatigue and sleep. In this single-arm intervention study, participants received morning light for 4 consecutive weeks from table or floor luminaires designed to deliver circadian-effective ambient light at home. Objective sleep was measured with wrist-worn actigraphy and subjective sleep, fatigue and mood were assessed using standardized questionnaires. Analysis of pre and post intervention data for the current cohort was performed separately as well as in combination with the 20 participants from the previously reported pilot study. For the 23 current participants, fatigue on the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F) scale improved by 3.9 ± 1.00 points (p = 0.0026). While sleep duration increased by mean 21.3 ± 14.4 min, it was not statistically significant (p = 0.082). When combined with the 20 participants from the prior pilot study, significant improvement in fatigue by 2.8 ± 0.85 points (p = 0.0033) was observed and sleep duration was also significantly increased by 24.7 ± 10.4 min (p = 0.012). These findings support morning light as a novel intervention for fatigue in PD.
SN - 1933-7213
SN - 1878-7479
ER -