MENTAL HEALTH AND BRAIN DISORDERS TO CAUSE NARCOLEPSY

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The study of a rare disorder in which people abruptly fall asleep could point to the cause of common mental health and brain disorders, an U.S.-based expert said in Australia on Thursday.

Professor Emmanuel Mignot, from the Stanford University School of Medicine, has discovered the immune system malfunction known to cause narcolepsy.

He was visiting Australia this week as part of a tour of sleep research facilities taking part in his latest work in the field.

Chronic sleep disorder affects around one in 2,000 people and was known to be caused by a combination of genes and a virus.

"To develop narcolepsy, you have to have a series of unlucky events that happen to you," Prof Mignot told Australia Associated Press on Thursday.

"First, you have to have certain genes that make your immune system operate in a certain way, then ... you need an infection, probably during the winter, such as strep throat or the flu.

"It activates your immune system and triggers an immune response against your own brain, which kills the cells that produce a peptide called hypocretin that helps you to stay awake."

Prof Mignot said the immune system malfunction could be similar triggers for schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease and even depression.

Prof Mignot's latest research will pull together blood samples from about 10,000 people with narcolepsy, including from Australia, to look for common genes responsible for the condition.

The research aims to find a method to protect brain cells, or a treatment that could replace their brain's lost production of hypocretin.

People with narcolepsy have periods in the day when they "can't stay awake". They may fall quickly, and deeply, asleep while at school or work.

Another warning sign is feeling a sense of paralysis, such as slackness in the face or going weak at the knees, possibly at time of high emotion such as laughter.

The Australasian Sleep Trials Network is taking part in the research, and people with narcolepsy are invited to make contact. The study is expected to take five years.

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