2. Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder, found in
both humans and dogs, where affected
individuals experience extreme drowsiness
throughout the day, and may fall into a random,
uncontrollable deep sleep, at any given time.
Narcolepsy is best defined as excessive daytime
sleepiness (EDS), and its most common
symptoms, are as followed:
3. -Sleep paralysis (where a person thinks
they are awake, but body is completely
paralysed, lasting a few seconds to a
couple of minutes)
-Cataplexy (sudden episode of muscular
weakness, where a victim’s head may
drop uncontrollably, knees buckle,
facial muscles sag, or experience slurred
speech)
- Hypnagogic hallucination (A vivid
dreamlike illusion that occurs as one is
falling asleep and or awakening)
4. - May be brought on by strong
emotions, such as laughter, anger,
surprise, sadness or fear.
- Automatic behavior (person continues
to function as of normal during sleep
episodes, but awakens with no
recollection of anything that has
happened)
- Disturbed night sleep (frequent
tossing and turning, nightmares and
awakenings)
5.
6.
7. What happens in
narcolepsy?
When an individual is awake, their
brain waves show a regular rhythm, and
when falling asleep, their brain waves
become slower and less regular, given
their body is going to rest, and partly
shutting down. This sleep state is
commonly referred to as non-rapid eye
movement (NREM) sleep. After
approximately an hour – two hours of
NREM sleep, the brain waves then
begin to move at a much faster speed,
and activities such as one’s heart rate
and respiration, become irregular. This
type of sleep is known as REM sleep
and is associated with dreaming, mild
uncontrolled muscle jerks, and rapid
eye movements.
8. In narcolepsy, the order and length of
NREM and REM sleep periods are in
reverse, with REM sleep taking place at
sleep onset, instead of after 1 – 2 hours
of NREM sleep.
Due to this, narcolepsy is a sleep
disorder in which the sleep cycle is
muddled up. Additionally, it’s a disorder
where REM sleep’s aspects that usually
occur only whilst sleep, such as a lack of
muscle tone, sleep paralysis, and vivid
dreams, differ in time dramatically for
narcoleptics, as a result.
9.
10. You see, narcolepsy stops the brain
passing through the message of the
regular stages of dozing and deep sleep,
in the sleep cycle, but instead causes
REM sleep to occur abnormally in and
out.
Because of this, narcoleptics suffer from
many consequences, which include:
-A lack of deep sleep, so the brain tries
to "catch up" on sleep during the day,
hence excessive day time sleepiness
(EDS)
- Fall extremely quickly into deep sleep.
11. - Awake after a short
period of time, and are
often disoriented
when they do
-Have extremely vivid
dreams, which in most
cases struggle to
remember
-May experience
dreams instantly after
falling asleep, but not
longer than a few
seconds.
12. Causes
-The most researched and
commonly thought cause of
narcolepsy, is genetic
mutation. Following the
world’s biggest study on
narcolepsy in 1999,
researchers discovered that
particular genes when
mutated, render the cells in
the hypothalamus (the
major part of the brain, in
which controls human’s
sleep behaviour) and are
unable to correspond with
other cells suitably. As a
result, irregular sleep
patterns then develop,
causing narcolepsy.
13. -Through various research and studies
conducted in the 90’s, scientists have
additionally discovered a strong link
between narcolepsy and an autoimmune
reaction. You see, in autoimmunity, a
person’s immune system protects their
body from viruses and infections, through
attacking its own cells. It’s also been
demonstrated that a narcoleptics immune
system attacks the hypothalamus, in which
is the cause of narcolepsy, indicating a large
connection between autoimmunity and
narcolepsy.
-Narcolepsy can also be caused through
family history, but is thought to be the
most uncommon cause, given studies have
shown that the vast majority of narcoleptic
sufferers do not have a history of
narcolepsy in their family, therefore
indicating, this is a rare and uncommon
cause of narcolepsy
14.
15. Diagnosis & Treatment of
Narcolepsy
The diagnosis of
narcolepsy is
relatively easy, as
all the symptoms
of narcolepsy
have been
discovered, are
relatively obvious,
and even self
diagnosable. It
does however get
much more
complex if one
experiences sleep
attacks that are
inaccessible, and
cataplexy is only
very mild or
absent
16. If this is the case, the polysomnogram
and the multiple sleep latency tests are
taken. These tests are generally
performed by a sleep expert or
specialist, given the polysomnogram
conducts continuous recordings of sleep
brain waves and a variety of nerve and
muscle functions during night time
sleep. When tested, if it is found that
people fell asleep extremely quickly,
entered REM sleep early, and have
disturbed sleep patterns, they are then
diagnosed with narcolepsy. The
polysomnogram also assists in detection
of any other probable sleep disorders
that could cause daytime sleepiness,
such as insomnia, in which narcoleptics
are sometimes even diagnosed with
additionally.
17. As for the multiple sleep latency test, an
individual is given an opportunity to only
sleep every 2 hours, during normal wake
times. Observations are then recorded of the
time taken to reach an assortment of stages of
sleep. This test helps calculate the quantity of
daytime sleepiness a patient may have, in
conjunction with detecting how soon the
onset of REM sleep begins, given people with
narcolepsy fall asleep rapidly, and enter REM
sleep early.
Although narcolepsy can now be detected
relatively easily through the discovery of
modern day tests, there is no known cure for
narcolepsy and can only be stabilized and
maintained through:
18. -Stimulant and anti depressant medication
-Lifestyle change through regular exercise
-Attempting to get 8 hours of sleep a night
-Avoiding caffeine, alcohol and nicotine.
Studies supported by the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) are currently
now trying to increase their understanding
on the ability to detect and treat the
disease, by examining narcolepsy patients
and families in hope of discovering a cure
for this uncontrollable sleep disorder.
19.
20. Bibliography
Weiten, W (2010, 2007), Psychology:
Themes and Variations, Eighth Edition,
Wadsworth Cengage Learning,
Belmont, CA, USA.
Zimbardo, P.G. and Weber, A.L (1994),
Psychology, HarperCollins College
Publishers, New York, USA
Wikipedia (2010) “Narcolepsy”, retrieved
11/10/2010
21. Hallmayer J, Faraco J, Lin L, et al. (June
2009). "Narcolepsy is strongly
associated with the T-cell receptor alpha
locus“ Retrived 11/10/2010
Narcolepsy is an autoimmune disorder,
Stanford researcher says". EurekAlert.
American Association for the
Advancement of Science. (2009).
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_release
s/sumc-nia042809.php. Retrieved
11/ 10/2010
BBC News article. (2004)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4081
225.stm. Retrieved 16/10/2010
