Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder where the affected person has episodes of sleepiness during the day.

These episodes cannot be controlled, and the person may sleep for few seconds or minutes. As a result, the person's daily life is affected as he cannot go about the daily chores.According to a recent research, genes as wells as environmental factors could be responsible for the development of narcolepsy. It is believed that the genes related to the immune system could be responsible for the disease. However, this has not been proven as yet.

However, researchers have found that the brain could be involved in the development of narcolepsy. According to some researches, the hypothalamus of the brain has a group of neurons known as hypocretin neurons. These are responsible for regulating sleep and wakefulness. In addition, these neurons also secrete neurotransmitters known as hypocretins, which are responsible for regulating the patterns for sleeping and keeping awake. However, when the hypothalamus does not produce sufficient amounts of hypocretins, it can cause the person from going of to sleep at abnormal times. Also, when patients suffering from narcolepsy were tested, researchers found that the cerebrospinal fluid extracted from these patients contained little or no hypocretins. Further, when MRI scans of the brains were taken, researchers found that there was loss of brain tissue in the hypothalamus. This suggested that the neurons responsible for secreting hypocretins have been destroyed.

Usually the symptoms of narcolepsy tend to appear during adolescence. However, even children can suffer from it. The first symptoms of the disorder include fatigue and sleepiness episodes that occur without any warning. However, it could be years before the disorder is diagnosed.

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