Spinal Fluid Substance May Help Drive Sleep Disorder: Study
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 21 (HealthDay News) -- A substance found in
spinal fluid could act like a natural sleeping pill and help
cause hypersomnia, a condition where people sleep more than 70
hours a week, a small new study suggests. Despite their
excessive sleeping, people with the condition also have
difficulty waking up in the morning, the researchers noted, and
even when awake their reaction times are comparable to someone
who has been sleepless all night. Hypersomnia can greatly
interfere with patients' daily lives, and conventional
treatments such as stimulants do little to help them. "These
individuals report feeling as if they're walking around in a fog
-- physically, but not mentally awake," study lead author Dr.
David Rye, professor of neurology at Emory University School of
Medicine, in Atlanta, and director of research for Emory
Healthcare's Program in Sleep, said in a university news
release. Rye and his colleagues looked at seven hyper-sleepy p