>narcolepsy is an autoimmune disorder in which some 70,000 orexin-producing neurons in the hypothalamus are destroyed by the body’s own immune system.
TIL
TIL
Or, I wonder what other diseases are autoimmune in nature? But autoimmune diseases that attack the brain or nervous system (Parkinsons?) seem like a very interesting avenue of research.
Sort of three layers of how it presents, the brain differences that directly cause the presentation, and the underlying mechanistic causes of those differences.
What got me on this path was my own son. From the time he was only a few weeks, he wouldn’t sleep for more than a few hours on his back but on his belly would sleep the whole night. The nurses in the NICU put all the babies on their tummies to get them to sleep. We threw out the doctor’s advice and tummy slept him with good air circulation and were far better off than many friends who thought their baby would die if tummy slept. Everyone before 1994 was tummy slept. What convinced me to try it was watching the nurses, reading a study on air circulation and SIDS, and that he slept great on top of me tummy down.
I agree that good sleep is more critical than people realize.
So in this study, a fan reduced SIDS as much as forced back sleeping. Again, the point is they don’t know why backsleeping reduces SIDS. One theory is it puts the baby’s face higher up. The fan seems to support this.
I’d be curious to interview parents of kids with autism and see how militant they were about back sleep and if their kid slept well. Some kids seeming don’t mind backsleeping but others hate it. And you can tell by simply letting them tummy sleep for a night or two and seeing if they sleep longer.
If this hypothesis does pan out, it’s not unlike doctors advice to avoid peanuts leading to a huge increase in peanut allergies. Only for them to later say, whoops.
[1] https://www.premierhealth.com/your-health/articles/healthnow...
> While scientists continue their research, Dr. Belcastro recommends that you and caregivers for your baby faithfully follow safe sleep guidelines to minimize the risk of SIDS. These precautions are especially important from ages one to six months, when babies cannot roll themselves over:
> Place your baby on his back to sleep – not on his side or stomach.
how do you make it work “on top of the parent”? e.g. how can the parent ensure not to roll over and suffocate the child?
Babies sleep a lot more than adults, so they can sleep on a parent/guardian who is awake.