Narcolepsy – What is it?

Narcolepsy is an illness. It is a brain related illness. According to ninds.nih.gov , “Narcolepsy is a chronic brain disorder that involves poor control of sleep-wake cycles. People with narcolepsy experience periods of extreme daytime sleepiness and sudden, irresistible bouts of sleep that can strike at any time. These “sleep attacks” usually last a few seconds to several minutes.”

It is an illness that changes a person’s life. “Narcolepsy can greatly affect daily activities. People may unwillingly fall asleep while at work or at school, when having a conversation, playing a game, eating a meal, or, most dangerously, when driving or operating other types of machinery. In addition to daytime sleepiness, other major symptoms may include cataplexy (a sudden loss of voluntary muscle tone while awake that makes a person go limp or unable to move), vivid dream-like images or hallucinations, as well as total paralysis just before falling asleep or just after waking-up.”

The difference for those who have narcolepsy is that their REM sleep functions differently. “For most adults, a normal night’s sleep lasts about 8 hours and is composed of four to six separate sleep cycles. A sleep cycle is defined by a segment of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep followed by a period of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. The NREM segment can be further divided into increasingly deeper stages of sleep according to the size and frequency of brain waves. REM sleep is accompanied by bursts of rapid eye movement along with sharply heightened brain activity and temporary paralysis of the muscles that control posture and body movement. When subjects are awakened, they report that they were “having a dream” more often if they had been in REM sleep than if they had been in NREM sleep. Transitions from NREM to REM sleep are controlled by interactions among groups of neurons (nerve cells) located in different parts of the brain.”

Now, for those with narcolepsy, this is different. “For normal sleepers a typical sleep cycle is about 100 to 110 minutes long, beginning with NREM sleep and transitioning to REM sleep after 80 to 100 minutes. People with narcolepsy frequently enter REM sleep within a few minutes of falling asleep.”

So, who exactly is at risk of having narcolepsy? “Narcolepsy affects both males and female equally and appears throughout the world. Symptoms often start in childhood or adolescence, but can occur later in life. The condition is life-long. Narcolepsy is not rare, but it is an underrecognized and underdiagnosed condition. Narcolepsy with cataplexy is estimated to affect about one in every 3,000 Americans. More cases without cataplexy are also likely to exist.”

One of the most common symptoms is “Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS): EDS, the symptom most consistently experienced by almost all individuals with narcolepsy, is usually the first to become clinically apparent. Generally, EDS interferes with normal activities on a daily basis, whether or not individuals had sufficient sleep at night. People with EDS describe it as a persistent sense of mental cloudiness, a lack of energy, a depressed mood, or extreme exhaustion.”