Could a drug for narcolepsy change the world? | Zoe Williams

I I met a guy in the pharmaceutical industry who told me about a bunch of interesting developments in sleeping pills: mainly, we may be on the verge of a new Wegovy, but in this case it’s a drug to cure narcolepsy. I suggested that the two things are not quite the same, given that obesity is a global epidemic and narcolepsy is quite rare. He countered that the way the drug works could also have applications for insomnia; similar to the Post-it having been invented by someone trying to create the strongest glue in the world.

Anyway, during this I learned about the narcolepsy type 1 test, which involves putting you in a room with no stimulation – nothing to read, no one to chat with, perfect silence, perfect temperature – and timed by how long it takes you to fall asleep. If it lasts less than eight minutes, you have narcolepsy. But the average, for a person who doesn’t complain at all in this area, is 22 minutes. I was in complete disbelief. It is a grip on consciousness more or less the same as that of a domestic cat. Bored? Go to sleep. Even a dog will quickly look for something to eat first.

Of course, I spread this disturbing statistic all over town, and most people have questions like: What kind of room? What color is the room? Is there a chair in it and is it comfortable? Never mind the chair, what kind of thug can fall asleep without a bed?

I also discovered cataplexy, which can consist of falling asleep after strong emotions, not necessarily bad (too much laughter is a trigger), and I strongly recognized it. Sometimes I fall asleep on the tube just because I’m glad the tube arrived.

In short, science has delivered a new marvel. It is only because we find ourselves so interesting that each of us is awake.