

Doctors suspect that genetics, autoimmune disorders, and other neural trauma can lead to the degradation of these important pathways. These neurons can become damaged, which stops the flow of hypocretin and leads to narcolepsy. Hypocretin is only transmitted in a small bundle of neurons, located in the brain’s hypothalamus. The chemical essentially works to tell the brain to stay awake - the last time you fought to stay awake while driving or watching a movie, it’s likely you had hypocretin on your side. Hypocretin has since been found to play a key role in human narcolepsy as well.


They found that dogs with narcolepsy had a specific mutation affecting the hypocretin receptor gene, which regulates the hypocretin neurotransmitter. In 1999 researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine identified hypocretin, a substance that allows for the transmission of chemical messages in the brain, as a key player in narcolepsy.
CANT STAY AWAKE HOW TO
Unfortunately, they’re still figuring out how to fix it. It’s a neurological disorder that has to do with how our bodies regulate the boundary between being awake and being asleep, and while not every narcoleptic person has the same symptoms, scientists have a pretty good idea of how the disease works. Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that can cause a variety of strange and often terrifying symptoms, including sleep attacks and temporary paralysis.
