Hey guys! Today's mental health issue I'm talking about is narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is a relatively rare sleep disorder, effecting 0.05% of the population. It effects the brains ability to to regulate normal sleep patterns, leading to disturbed nights and sleeping during the day.
Key symptoms:
1) disturbed night time sleep- frequent waking up during the night
2) excessive sleepiness- falling asleep at inappropriate times during the day and experiencing chronic tiredness
3) cataplexity- this only happens in some people with narcolepsy, it involves temporary muscle weakness in response to emotion. This stems from a mild facial weakness, buckling of knees or even collapsing. it can also last from a few minuets up to 60 minuets.
4) sleep paralysis- an inability to move while being concious
5) hallucinations- vivid frightening dream like experiences which occur during the transition of sleep and wakefulness.
it can cause serious effects in everyday life such as inability to stay focused and do day to day tasks. There is medication though and many people can get it under control. There are many different theories to why it is caused, it does not seem to be the same for everyone, such as brain structure, lack of certain neurotransmitters or traumatic events. Notable people with narcolepsy includes Jimmy Kimmel.
I hope this has helped inform you! If you suffer from this or another mental illness and would like to raise attention to it for mental health awareness march, please email me at smitheh01@gmail.com.
Lots of Love
Eleanor x
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