Narcolepsy is classified as a sleep disorder, mainly characterized by intermittent, uncontrollable episodes of falling asleep during the daytime.
Three additional symptoms are typically associated with it:
- cataplexy (short-lived intermittent muscle weakness)
- hypnogogic and hypnopompic hallucinations (hallucinations while falling asleep or waking)
- sleep paralysis (paralysis while falling asleep or waking)
Narcolepsy affects an estimated 25 in every 100,000 people in the United States. It usually begins in the teens or early twenties (10 to 20 years old), but this varies; both young children and the elderly experience sleep attacks as well. Approximately 125,000 people in the United States alone suffer from this disorder, with an equal incidence among both women and men.
Whether narcolepsy is a life-long disorder or not is controversial. Some evidence suggests that it is, while other studies have shown that symptoms fade in older age.
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