Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a neurological condition characterized by severe fatigue, irresistible episodes of sleep and general sleep disorder. It is a kind of dyssomnia.

What happens in narcolepsy

Normally, when an individual is awake, brain waves show a regular rhythm. When a person first falls asleep, the brain waves become slower and less regular. This sleep state is called non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. After about an hour and a half of NREM sleep, the brain waves begin to show a more active pattern again, even though the person is in deep sleep. This sleep state, called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, is when dreaming occurs.

Related Topics:
Brain wave - NREM - REM - Dreaming

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In narcolepsy, the order and length of NREM and REM sleep periods are disturbed, with REM sleep occurring at sleep onset instead of after a period of NREM sleep. Thus, narcolepsy is a disorder in which REM sleep appears at an abnormal time. Also, some of the aspects of REM sleep that normally occur only during sleep--lack of muscular control, sleep paralysis, and vivid dreams--occur at other times in people with narcolepsy. For example, the lack of muscular control can occur during wakefulness in a cataplexy episode. Sleep paralysis and vivid dreams can occur while falling asleep or waking up.

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In narcolepsy, the brain does not pass through the normal stages of dozing and deep sleep but goes directly into (and out of) rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. This has several consequences:

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• Nighttime sleep does not include much deep sleep, so the brain tries to "catch up" during the day, hence EDS
• Narcoleptics fall quickly into what appears to be very deep sleep
• They wake up suddenly and can be disoriented when they do
• They have very vivid dreams, which they often remember

Narcoleptics may dream even when they fall asleep for only a few seconds.

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