Dr Hanna Hensen

Hanna is investigating sleep disorders and sleep disruption in people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). MS is an auto-immune and neurodegenerative disease that is most commonly diagnosed in young adults between 20-40 years, in Australia over 23.000 people are affected and worldwide over 2 million people are diagnosed. It causes a broad scope of symptoms with increasing morbidity and disability. Fatigue is one of the most common and debilitating symptoms, affecting about 70% of the people with MS. Fatigue is very difficult to treat and all current therapies are either ineffective or only partially effective in relieving this debilitating symptom. Poor sleep and sleep disruption are also common in people with MS and can contribute to fatigue and impair cognitive function. The first aim of my PhD is to define the prevalence of sleep disorders and sleep disruption in people with MS and determine the relationship with fatigue and other symptoms of the disease. The second aim is to trial targeted therapies to determine if treating sleep problems can improve fatigue and cognitive function in people with MS. I hope that by carefully diagnosing and treating sleep problems this work will reduce fatigue and improve cognitive function to increase quality of life, productivity and wellbeing in people with MS.