AP11181

Prompt: Science Summary

When we think of the term narcolepsy, an incurable sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and uncontrollable attacks of REM sleep usually lasting from 10 to 20 minutes (Textbook, 116), we think of only a sleep disorder. Although, scientist now think that narcolepsy is not only associated with sleep disorders but with eating disorders as well. Fortuyn and Overeem, who authored the study, worked with sixty patients with both narcolepsy and cataplexy. All of the patients came from specialized sleep centers. They also recruited 120 healthy people to be controls for the experiment. The results concluded that 23.3 percent of the narcoleptic/cataplexic patients did in fact have a clinical eating disorder. Thirty of the patients stated that they were constantly craving food and also claimed that they had been binge eating. One-fourth of them even said that they binged on food at the least, twice a week. According to the data it seems clear narcolepsy is a sleeping disorder, but also a hypothalamic disease with a much broader symptom profile (Fortuyn 3). According to other animal studies, hypocretin which is the neurotransmitter that is missing when you are narcoleptic also is responsible for helping our body regulate a feeding time. There have been previous studies trying to relate narcolepsy to increased body weight, but scientist say that there is no correlation between the binge eating and obesity, which reminds me that correlation isn't causation (Barrett Law #7).

References:

American Academy of Sleep Medicine. (2008, March 3). High Prevalence Of Eating Disorders Found In Narcoleptics. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 11, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080301214742.htm

Wood, Samuel E., Ellen R. Green. Wood, and Denise Roberts. Boyd. // Mastering the World of Psychology //. Fourth ed. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2011. Print.

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