Causes of Hypersomnia – Narcolepsy

The causes of hypersomnia or excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) besides volitionalsleep deprivation and obstructive sleep apnea are principally due to primary centralnervous system abnormalities. Most common amongst these is Narcolepsy, a primarydisorder of the neural control of wakefulness and sleep. The recent discovery ofhypocretin/orexin deficiency as the main cause of narcolepsy will lead to importanttherapeutic advances for patients with narcolepsy and further to understanding of thecontrol of sleep and wakefulness in general. Importantly, the excessive daytimesleepiness is not due to psychiatric conditions, but rather is always due to sleepdeprivation or an underlying diagnosable and treatable sleep disorder.Key words : EDS, Sleep, Narcoleps