Narcolepsy, a chronic sleep disorder, impairs your sleep by impacting the central nervous system and the ability of your brain to control normal sleep-wake cycles. Researchers have found a link between narcoleptic episodes and underlying autoimmune disease that causes low levels of hypocretin, a brain chemical associated with wakefulness and sleep, appetite, energy and stress. Nutrient deficiencies do not cause narcolepsy, but adequate dietary vitamin intake may help strengthen your immune system and minimize symptom occurrence.
About Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy can cause debilitating complications at any time of the day, causing a person to be struck with the uncontrollable urge to sleep. Bouts of sleep may last from seconds to minutes, and no matter if you are driving, working or engaging conversation, a narcoleptic episode can ensue. In normal sleep, you cycle into deep rapid eye movement, or REM, every 90 to 110 minutes; however, a person with narcolepsy enters a REM-like state immediately during the episode. Heightened brain activity or dream states and muscle paralysis with loss of reflexes commonly occurs during REM. Narcolepsy is incurable, but prescription stimulant and sedative medications can help reduce daytime drowsiness and induce nighttime sleep.
Causal Factors
According to studies conducted by Stanford Medical School researchers and funded by the NINDS, a variation of gene belonging to specialized immune cells called T cells interacts with hypocretin cells, causing an autoimmune response, or cellular attack of the body on itself. Researchers found the variant genes interfere in the human leukocyte antigen, or HLA, complex, which tells your body how to differentiate foreign cells from safe cells. The autoimmune attack results in too little hypocretin availability in your brain to signal properly when sleep should occur.
Vitamins and Narcolepsy
Vitamins work together to maintain numerous biochemical functions in your body, including protecting your immune system from disease, preventing inflammation of your cells when damage does occur and fighting pathogens that try to suppress immune responses. Vitamin deficiency weakens your immune system, making you susceptible to autoimmune disease. But a direct link between vitamin deficiency and narcolepsy has not been clinically established. Minimize your risk of a weakened immune system related to deficiency by eating a well-balanced diet with vitamin-rich foods. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat meat or dairy provides you with adequate intake of the essential vitamins.
Vitamins For Immune and Neurological Health
Vitamins A, C, D and E protect your immune system by fending off infections and protecting your cells from harmful molecule damage. Consume vitamins A and C by eating fresh, colorful fruits and vegetables including citrus, carrots, squash, leafy greens and tomatoes. Vitamin E is found in olive oil, nuts or seeds, and vitamin D is fortified in dairy products, cereals and whole grain breads. The B-complex vitamins are linked to neurological health and play a role in the sleep-wake cycle, according to a 2008 exploratory study published in "Sleep Medicine." Consume B vitamins from lean meats such as poultry or fish, low-fat dairy and fortified whole grains. If you prefer to take multivitamins or individual supplements, consult your physician for recommendations and dosing.
References
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; Narcolepsy Fact Sheet; June 2011
- BioEssays; Hypocretin/Orexin, Sleep and Narcolepsy; Marcel Hungs, et al.; 2001
- "Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine"; Resolution of Hypersomnia Following Identification and Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency; D. E. McCarty; December 2010
- Stanford School of Medicine; Narcolepsy an Autoimmune Disorder; Michelle Brandt; May 2009
- Linus Pauling Institute; Nutrition and Immunity; Victoria J. Drake; August 2010
- Sleep Medicine; Vitamins and Sleep; An Exploratory Study; Kenneth Lichstein, et al.; January 2008
