We all know what Insomnia is - the difficulties of falling asleep. However, did you know that another sleep disorder, Narcolepsy, is completely the opposite of Insomnia?
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Characterized by sudden attacks of sleep, people with Narcolepsy have difficulties staying awake for a long period of time, which affects one’s daily life routine enormously. Read this article to find out more about Narcolepsy!
Normally when we sleep, we enter a stage called non-rapid eye movement, where our muscles relax, heartbeat and brain waves slow considerably. Only after a certain period of time (around one hour), we enter the rapid eye movement stage, where dreaming occurs. However, with Narcolepsy, one can enter the rapid eye movement stage immediately without going through the non-rapid eye movement stage. It is also related with sleep paralysis and hallucinations.
Talking about Narcolepsy, we have to mention cataplexy. There are two types of Narcolepsy, type 1 Narcolepsy, where Narcolepsy occurs with cataplexy, and type 2 Narcolepsy, where Narcolepsy occurs without cataplexy. Cataplexy is known as the sudden loss of muscle tone, which is usually caused by strong emotion, either positive or negative.
The most obvious symptom of Narcolepsy is excessive daytime sleepiness. Imagine you were having a meeting with your teacher or boss, and he or she were giving an educational sleep, but you suddenly fell asleep - something you would never want to happen. However, this is what people with Narcolepsy are facing every day. Narcolepsy causes one to fall asleep suddenly without any warning, and the time of the sleeping period can vary from a couple minutes to up to half an hour. Although one may wake up feeling refreshed, the feeling of tiredness and sleepiness will approach soon, causing one to fall asleep again. In addition to constantly falling asleep, decreased awareness and focus may also be experienced. Because of the sudden attack of sleepiness, one may find it difficult to concentrate and pay attention to what is happening in his or her daily lives.
Another symptom for Narcolepsy is sleep paralysis. When one is falling asleep or waking up, sleep paralysis is terrifying. Although it only lasts for seconds or minutes, not able to speak or move to respond to certain things may frighten many people. However, while most people with Narcolepsy may also experience sleep paralysis, not everyone with sleep paralysis has Narcolepsy - but that’s a whole other topic.
Besides the common symptoms mentioned previously, hallucinations often occur with Narcolepsy as well. While one is in the stage of falling asleep, but is still half awake, the dreaming-like hallucinations may frighten one greatly, and they can be vivid or very particular.
Narcolepsy causes many problems because when one falls asleep suddenly, people who don’t know about one’s personal conditions may see it as signs of laziness. Additionally one’s daily life routine can be completely disrupted because of Narcolepsy. While there is no cure for narcolepsy, change of lifestyle and support from others become especially important.
Narcolepsy, a chronic sleep disorder that is rare but important for us to be aware of.
Written by: Benetta Wang
Sources:
“Narcolepsy - Symptoms and Causes.” Mayo Clinic, 6 Nov. 2020, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcolepsy/symptoms-causes/syc-20375497.
“Narcolepsy – Symptoms, Causes, Treatment.” Sleep Foundation, 10 Dec. 2020, www.sleepfoundation.org/narcolepsy.
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