Hormones and sleep.

Deep sleep triggers more release of growth hormone, which fuels growth in children and boosts muscle mass and the repair of cells and tissues in children and adults.
Sleep’s effect on the release of sex hormones also encourages puberty and fertility. Consequently, women who work at night and tend to lack sleep are, therefore, more likely to have trouble conceiving or to miscarry.

During sleep, your body creates more cytokines cellular hormones that help the immune system fight various infections. Lack of sleep can reduce the ability to fight off common infections.
Research also reveals that a lack of sleep can reduce the body’s response to the flu vaccine. For example, sleep-deprived volunteers given the flu vaccine produced less than half as many flu antibodies as those who were well rested and given the same vaccine.

When we sleep less, our stomach secretes more of an appetite stimulating hormone, and we produce less of the hormone which reduces our desire for food consequently we gain weight. A recent French study of 1,138 children found that 26% of children in the sample who had a sleep deficit were overweight, and 7.4% were obese. Day time naps do not compensate for proper night sleep which is generally deeper and longer. This same study showed that 22% of children who slept less than 10 hours a night when they were only 2.5 years old were hyperactive at 6 years of age. This is twice the rate of those who slept 10-11 hours a night at 2.5 years of age.

Sleep is undeniably an important part of our daily lives. Sleep deficit has profound effects not just on our mental health but also on our physical health.

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Research and Narcolepsy

In May of this year groundbreaking research about the key role the immune system plays in Narcolepsy was published. A team of international researchers led by Emmanuel Mignot, MD, PhD, and Director of Stanford’s Center for Narcolepsy found a tight association between narcolepsy and a genetic mutation in T cells, the immune system’s vehicle for identifying and attacking foreign bodies.

Although further research is needed to determine exactly how this mutation leads to narcolepsy, the research behind this highly technical article, titled, “Narcolepsy is strongly associated with the T-cell receptor alpha locus” is based on a study of the analysis of DNA samples from over 800 patients with narcolepsy and cataplexy. Dr Mignot stated that this is opening the door for preventive therapies. The implications of this research go well beyond the narcolepsy field. As the first of its kind to link a disorder associated with the immune system to the T cell alpha locus, it provides a model for the study of over 100 other similarly associated disorders including juvenile diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

Generally children with narcolepsy have a completely normal development although secondary narcolepsy is associated with underlying neurological disorders such as Nieman-Pick disease where there is developmental delay. In first degree relatives 10% may also have narcolepsy and up to 40% of narcoleptic patients may have a family member who has excessive daytime sleepiness.

Narcolepsy is fortunately one of the less common sleep disorders but has long been recognised as having a definate genetic link. Most sufferers are diagnosed in late teens although some younger children have also been identified as narcoleptic.

Narcolepsy is a lifelong chronic disorder that will always require management. The aims of "treatment" are adaptation to living with this disorder and improving quality of life.