Introduction
Narcolepsy is one of the more notorious sleep disorders, which the many people associate with falling asleep at highly inappropriate moments, however there is much more to the disorder than this. Narcolepsy occurs in approximately 0.03%-0.16% of the general population (Nishino et al. 2000). The age of onset varies between 10 and 20 years old, however it may even begin after the age of 40 (Dement 1976). Narcolepsy is characterized by several unusual and potentially embarrassing symptoms such as sudden sleep attacks, overwhelming daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hypnagogic hallucinations. It is generally considered a REM sleep disorder because in this disorder, REM sleep occurs right as a patient is falling asleep, while in normal humans, it occurs around 90 minutes after sleep onset following Stage 4 slow wave deep sleep. As you will see, this fact leads to some rather remarkable symptoms in the narcoleptic patient.