Community Views: The Impact of Psoriasis on Sleep 

Although each of us has our own experience when it comes to sleep, the majority of us can come to an agreement that getting a good sleep becomes increasingly difficult after getting a psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis diagnosis.

What does the community have to say?

To explore this, we decided to reach out to the community members who are struggling with psoriasis on the PlaquePsoriasis.com Facebook Page. We posted this question: Does psoriasis impact your sleep? Share your experience in the comments.

Aside from a couple of nos and yeses, numerous people were kind enough to share their thoughts.

The lack of sleep.

One thing in common among those who answered yes is that psoriasis has negatively affected their quality of sleep. So many studies have been published about this specific topic, one of which concluded that over 50% of psoriatic patients reported experiencing sleep disturbances. True enough, some of the statements gathered from the community are the following:

“Yes lucky if I get 3 to 4 hours of sleep.”

“Oh God, YES!!!! I have had it the better part of my life but never have I had such painful plaques. I haven't slept well in over a year. It's desperately miserable”

The never-ending itch.

Now that we have established the fact that sleep disturbances and difficulties cannot be avoided when you're struggling with psoriasis, let us now explore the reasons why. Although psoriasis itself does not directly cause sleep problems, its main symptoms definitely may be contributing factors. This is evident in the statements collected from the community.

“Yes. I used to spend alot of the night scratching. When mind is relaxed and I'm not focusing on what's in front of me I tend to notice how itchy I actually am.”

“Yes, the constant itching and pain!"

The psoriatic pain that comes with it.

Some of the psoriatic patients also struggle with arthritis which causes the joints to become swollen, stiff, and painful. This, along with having the constant need to scratch your skin, makes getting a good quality sleep impossible to achieve.

“Yes that and the arthritis that goes with it impacts just about every facet of life its really miserable.”

“Yes, along with arthritis makes many sleepless nights.”

A series of trial and error.

Since sleep is essential to health, we suggest that you take the time to explore different methods and practices that could help you ease your symptoms. For instance, to soothe your itch, you may take an anti-histamine a few hours before you go to bed, look for an itch cream that works for you, find a moisturizer that's perfect for your preference. Test different bed sheets and blankets that wouldn't irritate your skin.

As for psoriatic arthritis, you can practice light exercises and stretching in the morning, and even before going to bed. Aside from taking medications, you can experiment on different heat or cold packs as well as muscle relief supplies to help ease joint pain and swelling.

At the end of the day, it's all about making a constant effort to manage your symptoms and not let your disease get the best of you.