Sleepiness is a neurological disease that can lead to uncontrollable sleep. These sleep stages usually occur at inappropriate times, such as talking, eating or driving. Although sleep can occur at any time, it most often occurs during inactive or monotonous repetitive activities.

Sleepiness generally begins at the age of 15~30, but some people have drowsiness sooner or later. Once drowsiness occurs, it will accompany you all your life. Men and women are equally affected.

The first symptom of drowsiness is usually feeling very sleepy during the day. However, it may take several years to confirm that patients do have this disease, because there are many other reasons that can cause daytime sleepiness.

symptom

Medicine defines sleepiness as four main symptoms, which are called sleepiness tetralogy:

Excessive daytime sleepiness-this symptom has always existed and is usually the most obvious.

Cataplexy-Cataplexy refers to the sudden or temporary disappearance of muscle mass, resulting in paralysis of the head or body without losing consciousness. It can last for a few seconds or minutes. Mild symptoms are vague language or stuttering, drooping eyelids or inability to hold things with your fingers. Severe cataplexy can lead to knee bending and make people collapse. Laughter, excitement or anger are typical reasons for falling down. The sudden relaxation of muscle mass may be the result of the brain suddenly entering REM sleep. Less than half of narcolepsy patients will collapse.

Sleep paralysis-the so-called sleep paralysis refers to the temporary inability to exercise when people fall asleep or wake up. It only lasts a few minutes. Similar to cataplexy, sleep paralysis may also be related to insufficient transition between REM sleep and waking state. Sleep paralysis is related to hallucinations.

Hypnotic hallucination-refers to images that are mentally like dreams, usually scary, and often appear during sleep or before sleep paralysis.

About 90% of people diagnosed with narcolepsy do not have at least one of the above symptoms. Less than half of people have these four symptoms.

Usually, before this, teenagers or adults will not have these symptoms. People suffering from narcolepsy will complain about fatigue and perform poorly in work, study and social relations. Excessive sleepiness during the day will make people lose their ability and greatly reduce their quality of life. Memory loss and visual impairment can be particularly disturbing.

More than half of people suffering from drowsiness will have memory loss or memory interruption, which is caused by the "micro-sleep" that breaks into the awake state. At these stages, when walking or driving, they will be at a loss, talking nonsense or scribbling, putting things wrong or bumping into things. Usually, they can't control their behavior at these stages, and they don't remember what happened later.

How to judge narcolepsy

Sleepiness can be diagnosed by the occurrence of typical stages and the results of overnight sleep research in multistage sleep latency test. Sleep studies have confirmed other causes of excessive daytime sleepiness, such as sleep deprivation, sleep apnea and depression. The test was conducted at the Sleep Research Institute. Researchers electronically control brain waves, eye movements, muscle activity, heartbeat, blood oxygen level and breathing by using polysomnography equipment. Multi-level sleep latency test is generally conducted after getting enough sleep at night, so the result is clear. Usually after sleep research.

The multi-level sleep latency test includes four 20-minute nap opportunities, which are evenly distributed throughout the day with an interval of two hours. Sleepy people can fall asleep in about five minutes or less, and at least two of the four naps will turn into rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. In contrast, normal people generally need 12~ 14min to fall asleep and will not enter the REM sleep stage.

prevent and cure

Once drowsiness occurs, it is not easy to eliminate it. In most cases, these drowsiness symptoms can be successfully controlled and solved through treatment, regular siesta and good sleep habits.

There is no way to prevent drowsiness at present. Avoiding situations that may lead to drowsiness may help reduce the frequency of drowsiness. If you are sleepy and your symptoms can't be controlled by drugs, you shouldn't drive or smoke to avoid injury.

The main symptom of sleepiness-excessive sleepiness during the day can be treated by several methods, such as taking stimulants such as Provigil, toluene salt (ritalin and other brands) or dextroamphetamine, and taking regular naps during the day. Cataplexy and sleep paralysis can be treated with tricyclic antidepressants. Cataplexy can also be treated by taking sodium hydroxybutyrate, although the use of this drug needs to be strictly controlled because it is abused by the entertainment industry.

Psychological counseling is very important for issues related to self-esteem and emotional support, especially those who are sleepy, because they can't give full play to their potential, and may be considered lazy by their families and peers and unwilling to exercise.