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Research Paper On Narcolepsy

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Research Paper On Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a chronic brain disorder that involves poor control of sleep wake cycles. Narcolepsy deeply affects people by causing them to unexpectedly falling to sleep while, at school, work, while having conversations, eating, doing everyday activities, and in some cases even while driving. It is very important to be aware of narcolepsy because it is estimated to affect at least 1 in every 3,000 people in the United States, people with narcolepsy experience cataplexy which is a sudden loss of voluntary muscle tone while away that makes the person go limp or be unable to move. Narcolepsy is very serious and can make it very difficult to do everyday activities. Most people with narcolepsy inherit a gene that codes for the human leukocyte antigen (HLA), the HLA gene is found in the human chromosome number 6, HLA is important for immune function. This gene is found in about 12-25% of the population, having inherited this gene increases the risk of developing narcolepsy. Narcolepsy results from a combination of genetic and environmental factors, some of which have been identified, but many that still remain unknown. …show more content…
People with narcolepsy feel tired during the day and have an urge to sleep. Sleep attacks occur suddenly at unexpected times, which can last for a few seconds or minutes which lead to long naps. Narcolepsy also affects nighttime sleep. Most people have trouble sleeping for more than a few hours at night. They often experience vivid hallucinations while falling asleep or while waking up. Affected individuals have realistic or distressing dreams, sometimes people may act out their dreams by moving or talking in their sleep. People with narcolepsy also experience sleep paralysis, which prohibits them from moving of speaking for a short period of time while falling asleep or waking

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