3 Poor Sleep
Poor sleep might seem like an ironic symptom of narcolepsy, but it makes perfect sense when you consider the above point. The reason narcolepsy sufferers struggle to stay awake, is that they have impaired internal pacemakers (body clocks), which in turn causes them to fall asleep at inappropriate times. In just the same way, this can also cause them to struggle to get to sleep at the times that they are meant to!
You might find that it becomes much more difficult to fall asleep in the first place at this point and you may lie awake for long hours. Alternatively, you might find that you wake frequently throughout the night, or stop feeling tired.
The worst thing to do if you experience this is to try and ‘force yourself’ to sleep. By doing this, you will actually increase your stress levels and that will elevate your heart rate – making it almost impossible to nod off. While it is frustrating, try to simply enjoy lying in a calm and dark space.
Again, there are many causes for insomnia, and so this condition is actually easy to overlook.