Narcolepsy is a very tragic chronic brain disorder that inhibits sleep cycles. People with Narcolepsy experience periods of extreme sleep throughout the day time. Theses periods of sleep often come suddenly with no warning, and can last a few seconds or minuets.
In Narcolepsy, the part of the brain called the HYPOTHALAMUS is located in VENTRAL PART OF THE DIENCEPHALON. In other words, it is located above the brain stem. Normally, in the Hypothalamus, people have up to 70,000 hypocretin cells. hOWEVER, ACCORDING TO Siegel, JM, 85-95% OF PEOPLE WITH NARCOLEPSY HAVE 3,000-10,000 hypocertin cells. these cells regulate many basic funtions such as the release of homones, blood pressure, sex, food intake regulation, and sleep cycles. however, according to siegel, JM, 85-95% of people iwth narcolepsy have only 3,000-10,-000 hypocertin cells, therefore, without the normal amount of these cells the sleep cycles are left unregulated an result in narcolepsy.