Mike Chen, age 14, of Lake Charles, La., for his question:

WHAT CAUSES NARCOLEPSY?

Narcolepsy is a disorder characterized by sudden and uncontrollable sleep attacks that may last for several minutes or several hours and that may happen several times each day. A person with narcolepsy may drop off to sleep at inappropriate times, such as while walking, driving a car, eating or carrying on a conversation.

It is suspected that narcolepsy is related to some   malfunction of the sleep controlling centers of the   hypothalamus, a part of the brain. However, medical   authorities do not know just how or why narcolepsy occurs.   Narcolepsy may also be genetic and it could also be linked   to unusual amounts of the neurotransmitters acetylcholine and   dopamine in the brain.  The onset of narcolepsy usually occurs in adolescence or early adulthood and it persists throughout life. Doctors sometimes use amphetamines and other stimulants to prevent   attacks. The problem of narcolepsy occurs three or four times as often among men as among women. Unless his sleeping causes an   accident, there are no ill effects from narcolepsy.