Abstract
Objectives. Among patients suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS) various sleep disorders can be seen, often more than one and in different configurations. The disorders can occur at every stage of the disease, and even precede its first symptoms.
Review. The type of sleep disorders depends on the localisation of lesions in the central nervous system, and on the presence of other symptoms and syndromes in the course of MS (e.g. chronic fatigue syndrome, depression syndrome, nycturia).
The most common sleep disorders among MS patients are: insomnia, limb movement disorders during sleep, nocturnal breath disorders, narcolepsy and REM sleep behaviour disorders. Factors that may influence the quality of sleep include pain, nycturia, depression, drug side-effects, location of demyelination lesions and progression of the disease.
Conclusions. An attempt was made in the paper to draw attention to sleep disorders, since they are an important and often underestimatedproblem in SM patients.