Dr Laura Laslett’s research aims to investigate sleep in people living with MS. She will do this by collecting better information on sleep, understanding what treatments have already been tested for sleep, how sleep changes over time, and whether magnetic brain stimulation improves sleep, all in people living with MS.
To do this, she will use research grade fitness tracking watches to assess sleep continuously for 14 days, an app (MySymptoms) to report MS symptoms (including sleep) each day and will investigate whether this information adds value to information gathered using standard questionnaires on sleep.
Dr Laslett will review and summarise clinical trials already completed on sleep in people living with MS, to find out what treatments have been tested and to identify the most promising treatments for poor sleep.
To assess changes in sleep in Australians living with MS, Dr Laslett will assess how various aspects of sleep change over time, including changes in sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and symptoms of restless legs syndrome over four years, using data from the Australian MS Longitudinal Study (AMSLS). She will also assess which factors are associated with any change in sleep quality over four years.
To investigate whether magnetic brain stimulation improves sleep, Dr Laslett will use data from the MagneTic brAin stimUlation foR mUltiple Sclerosis (TAURUS.2) trial, which is a clinical trial of magnetic brain stimulation in people living with MS. She will assess whether there is a relationship between the number and size of lesions seen on MRI scans and quality of sleep. She will also determine whether magnetic brain stimulation (daily for four weeks) is effective in improving sleep quality over four months.
Using this information, Dr Laslett will plan future clinical trials of treatments for poor sleep in people living with MS.
Dr Laslett and her team have successfully recruited about 40 people to determine what is the best information to collect on sleep in people with MS. This study uses traditional methods of assessing sleep (surveys), alongside data from research-quality smart watches and assessing MS symptoms that might impact sleep.
From reviewing the literature for the 2025 update to the “Modifiable lifestyle factors for MS” report, the team learned that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), physical activity and multidisciplinary interventions (including CBT, physical activity and sleep hygiene) are effective therapies for some sleep difficulties in people living with MS.
The team also reviewed scientific literature to assess which treatments improve sleep assessed using research-quality smart watches. They found that mindfulness improved sleep efficiency (the percentage of time spent in bed sleeping). Apart from mindfulness, scientists have little reliable evidence that current sleep treatments help restore the underlying sleep processes in in people with MS. Having more evidence would help people with MS and their care teams make decisions about what treatments would improve their sleep.
When investigating the effect of prescription medicines on sleep in MS the team found two medications were related to worse sleep quality or worse daytime sleepiness. They did not find any prescription medications that improved sleep. This took into consideration the reasons people were using these medications.
In more than 1,200 people living with MS taking part in the AMSLS, self-reported sleep quality was very stable over two years, whereas daytime sleepiness worsened a little during this time. The team found that people’s backgrounds, health and symptoms showed little connection to changes in sleep over time. Things that were linked to changes in sleep explained only a small part of the changes. This means that there are many other pieces of the puzzle that are missing, to accurately predict changes in sleep over time for individual people.
Over the next year, Dr Laslett and her team will finish collecting and analysing data on sleep from people with MS and develop a resource to deliver sleep education, co-designed with people with MS, clinicians and sleep experts. They will also continue studying changes sleep quality over time and analysing data from TAURUS.2 to determine whether magnetic brain stimulation improves sleep.
Last updated 31 March 2026
Professor Ingrid van der Mei
Professor Bruce Taylor
$225,000
2024
3 years
Current project
