Analysis of Article Narcolepsy by Jerome M. Siegel Essay

Narcolepsy is a sleeping disorder that occurs during the adolescence stage. It is peculiar as it causes the afflicted person to develop a spontaneous sleep cycle during the day. This disorder prompts “sleep attacks” to occur, and can even be accompanied by cataplexy, random muscle failure or really just REM sleep paralysis (Zimbardo, Johnson, Weber,2008, p.109). It can be dangerous as the attacks can be triggered at any time by intense feelings of emotion or a lack of stimulation. This means that in cases such as driving, sexual intercourse, and times of extreme happiness a narcoleptic person could just fall straight into REM sleep (Zimbardo, Johnson, Weber,2008,

In my paper, I will tackle insomnia from various perspectives: definitions, types, causes, effects, and means of solutions.

Narcolepsy is a sleeping disorder that affects 1 in about 2,000 people in the United States. Many people are unaware that they have this disorder, and it goes undiagnosed. Narcolepsy affects your sleeping pattern, including irregular patterns in your Rapid Eye Movement (REM), and significant disruptions in your normal sleep/wake cycle. There is no cure for this disorder, but it is treatable. We also don’t know what causes it.

Firstly, what is narcolepsy? Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that effects your central nervous system that does not allow the person to have a regulated sleep cycle. A regular person normally has a 90 minute sleep cycle, while a narcoleptic goes straight into REM sleep. Since they go straight into REM sleep, the brain does not have a chance to recover from its constant activities. A narcoleptics

According to MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, the common symptoms of narcolepsy are periods of extreme drowsiness during the day (MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia). People with narcolepsy feel a strong desire to sleep, usually followed by a short nap. The sleep attacks last about fifteen minutes but can be longer. Often times, these sleep attacks happen after eating, during driving, and other everyday tasks. After a short nap, a person usually wakes up feeling refreshed and energized. As stated by Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia, “Another symptom is dream-like hallucinations between sleep and wakefulness” (MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia). This is when a person experiences seeing or hearing right before they fall asleep. Sleep paralysis and cataplexy are also common symptoms of narcolepsy (MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia). Sleep paralysis is not being able to move as you are falling asleep or upon waking up. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, it usually goes unnoticed because it occurs during REM sleep (NINDS). REM sleep is rapid eye movement sleep. It occurs in breaks when rapid eye movements occur along with bodily movement. Similarly, cataplexy is a sudden loss of mobility. This is also associated with strong emotion like laughter or anger, which can trigger cataplexy

Sleep paralysis is a common condition with a prevalence of 5-62%, although most affected people have single or infrequent episodes (Dahlitz). Occasionally sleep paralysis is found to run in a family, and it can be associated with other disorders of hypersomnia, such as sleep apnea (Becker 81). Narcolepsy has also been linked with sleep paralysis; both are thought to be REM sleep disorders (Siegel). Gender and race do not seem to be a factor of risk for this disorder. The episodes of sleep paralysis seem to range from ages 5-35 (Dahlitz). The use of anxiolytic medicines, psychiatric disorders and high anxiety can also contribute to sleep paralysis (Larkin).

Summary: Narcolepsy and cataplexy are lifelong illness due to the loss of Hypocretin in the brain. Hypocretin is a chemical that regulate sleep cycle, without it people will experience sleep disorder. There is no cure for the disease. However, condition can be managed by drug therapy and several behavioral strategies. But I am looking forward that one day researcher will find a cure for it so I can live my life normally as I used before.

Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological disorder which the brain are unable to regulate sleep wake cycles normally.

Narcolepsy is defined as a condition characterized by an extreme tendency to fall asleep whenever in relaxing surroundings. It is a brain disorder that causes poor control of sleep and wake cycles. People that have narcolepsy usually experience sudden sleep attacks. These sleep attacks can last from a few seconds to minutes. Narcolepsy is classified by extreme daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, hypnologic hallucinations, and sleep paralysis. In this paper the focus is on the physiological effects of Narcolepsy on an individual, as well as explains treatments and recent research studies being made today and in the future.

Narcolepsy without cataplexy – No cataplexy is narcolepsy without attacks, or excessive sleepiness all the time and still feeling tired.

Because of their frequent, inevitable sleep attacks, narcoleptics often go back and forth between sleep and wakefulness in a state that has been likened to sleepwalking and is termed automatic behavior. When in this state, the person seems to behave normally but later does not remember anything they have done. For example, narcoleptics might find themselves in a different building or several exits farther down a highway than they last remembered. Obviously, automatic behavior is very anxiety-producing; it is very troubling to narcoleptics to be unable to remember what they have done in the minutes or hours that have just passed (Matzen,

Susceptibility to this complex neurological disorder is closely linked with a specific human leukocyte antigen allele, DQB1*0602 & DQA1*0102[Heredity]. Both of these alleles brand the patient as being predisposed to this disorder and although not established as of yet, it points to narcolepsy being an autoimmune disease [Heredity]. Slumber eats up almost a third of our lives and still its biological role is unknown. In the general population, first degree relations of narcoleptics are ten to 40 percent more likely to show sign of having this disorder[NarcRev]. Although narcolepsy affects only point 2 “ point 18 percent of the population, it has long been recognized as hereditary[Heredity]. It has been established that humans and dogs facing the state suffered from a lack of a chemical in the brain called hypocretin[NarcRev]. In one study, canine narcolepsy has been used to model human studies and after a long national search, numerous canine breeds have been shown to have been sufferers of this disorder. Genetic transmission in Lab's and Pinscher's is now well established and used to create a narcoleptic canine colony at Stanford

During REM sleep there are numerous output fibers from REM sleep triggering regions that go towards the medial medullary reticular formation, some of which have synaptic contacts with the neurotransmitter serotonin, that contain medullary neurons. The efferent pathway that connects to the pontine REM regions, which have cells of the medial medullary reticular formation, may be important for moderating sleep-specific inhibitory or excitatory postsynaptic effects in motor neurons, and silencing medullary serotonin containing cells.

Parasomnia refers to a wide variety of disruptive, sleep-related events or, "disorders of arousal." These behaviors and experiences occur usually while sleeping, and most are often infrequent and mild. They may however happen often enough to become so bothersome that medical attention should be sought out. "Parasomnias are disorders characterized by abnormal behavior or physiological events occurring in association with sleep stages, or sleep-wake transitions."(DSM pg. 435)

Sleepwalking occurs during stages 3 and 4 of the sleep cycle, the deepest levels of sleep. This slow-wave sleep is normally characterized by synchronized EEG activity (4). This indicates that mental activity is very low during these stages of sleep. However researchers have shown that the EEG of a sleepwalker has diffuse, rhythmic, high-voltage bursts of delta activity associated with abrupt motor activity (1). This is very different from the EEG activity normally associated with slow-wave sleep. In addition to the EEG results, they found that there is a decrease in regional cerebral blood flow in the frontopariental cortices during sleepwalking (1). This indicates that sleepwalking is a dissociated state consisting of motor arousal and persisting mind sleep, which seems to arise from the selective activation of thalamocingulate circuits and the persisting inhibition of other thalamocortical arousal systems (3).