Narcolepsy :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Wake Up A Quick Look at Narcolepsy It is estimated that humans spend terzetto of their lives a stop (1). With peace appearing to be non only the eventual(prenominal) pastime, but also a survival imperative, the field of pause inquiry is quite broad, boasting many different aras of study. By examining phenomena like residue disorders neurobiologists can hope to understand the mechanisms of normative sleep, in addition to perfecting handling for suffers. Narcolepsy is one such disorder that affects an estimated 250, 000 or 1 in 2000 Americans analogous numbers are estimated for Parkinsons or multiple sclerosis (2). A widespread, though often misdiagnosed disorder (fewer than 50, 000 are aware of their condition), narcolepsy can be characterized by chronic daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hypanogic h onlyucinations (3 ). The latter three of the quaternary of symptoms also occur in non-narcoleptic individuals sleep episodes are the main epitope in diagnosis . Only 20 to 25 percent of narcoleptics suffer from all four symptoms (2). This paper has several goals, all of which involve clarifying the disease and its symptoms in different contexts. In order to do this sleep ordain first be explained in some detail, followed by a biologic and psychological treatment of narcolepsy. Research of narcolepsy and its implications for the future shows steps to be interpreted in order to garner a better understanding this particular proposition brain/behavior relationship. To start at a beginning of sorts, paradoxical sleep sleep and its importance should be discussed. Sleep is in fact not the passive activity it was once assumed to be. It appears that during sleep many things are going on in the brain, which are documented by electroencephalograms (EEGs) beat neocortical neuronal activity. Sleep occurs in a cycle of lucid stages, with apparent contrasts from early sleep, deep sleep, and paradoxical sleep (rapid eye movement) sleep (4). During REM sleep neurons in the neocortex behave similarly to how they would when a soulfulness is awake, displaying desynchronized EEG. The first REM stage occurs 70 to 90 minutes into sleep and approximately 20% of a nights sleep is spent in this sign of sleep (4). Since this stage of sleeping is associated with dreaming, it is logical that in REM sleep muscles become temporarily paralyzed, a state called muscle atonia. REM sleep is important for overall health and regulation of the nervous system. In early(a) sleep stages, or non-REM stages, EEGs are synchronized, only partial muscle peace is present, and dreaming is less frequent (2).