![]() ![]() On top of that, regular exercise may help you boost your mood and help lower your blood pressure. If you have a full night of sleep, you will likely be more alert the next day. Performing any kind of daily aerobic exercise for at least 30 minutes has been scientifically proven to help improve nighttime sleep. 2 is narcolepsy.Exercise is also a key tool for managing narcolepsy. 1 disorder shown in sleep studies, and No. “Sleep disorders are something that I hope everyone can become more aware of,” she said. She hopes to attend Stanford and major in human biology, then go to medical school to become a neurologist. Mackenzie recently finished an internship at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and is planning for another one this summer. ![]() Proceeds from raffles and donations at the event will benefit Narcolepsy Network. Title Boxing Club Carlsbad, at 3247 Camino de los Coches, is hosting a fundraiser that day, offering free boxing classes. ![]() That’s when lots of people experience sleep disruption, just as those with narcolepsy do. Also dubbed by the network as Suddenly Sleepy Saturday, it’s the day before clocks are set ahead for daylight saving time. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer granted Mackenzie’s request to declare March 11 as Narcolepsy Awareness Day. “She has a Power Point presentation, and we go as a team.” Accompanied by her mom, Mackenzie will be talking to doctors, school faculties and staff, and other groups to raise awareness of narcolepsy. She learned she’d been named a youth ambassador last fall. “I do a lot of community service, and I love helping people,” she said. When Mackenzie found the Narcolepsy Network online (she applied to be one of their youth ambassadors. And eating healthy.” She follows a gluten-free diet, which she said is recommended for people with narcolepsy. It gives me energy.”īesides playing soccer, Mackenzie swims, plays tennis, kickboxes and rides horses. “You’re fighting tiredness, but exercise boosts your hormones, your dopamine. She is active in sports, which is a huge help, she said. At school, she has access to a rest area when she needs a brief nap, “and it’s very acceptable (for a teen) to say, ‘I’m going to sleep for a few minutes.’” Meanwhile, several medications help her control and regulate her sleep cycles. “Hopefully they’ll come out with a cure,” she said. Mackenzie will have to live with narcolepsy all her life. That was corrected by palate-expanding orthodontia. She was later also diagnosed with sleep apnea, a pause in breathing while asleep, often accompanied by snorts or snores. More typically, it can take up to 10 years for the correct diagnosis, according to the network. Mackenzie was fortunate she was diagnosed after only about a year. Other tests revealed that her brain was no longer producing hypocretin, and also that she had a genetic marker strongly associated with narcolepsy. Nighttime as well as daytime sleep studies showed that her brain-wave and muscle activity were typical of narcolepsy. That “confused the doctors,” who thought she had epilepsy, Mackenzie said. Mackenzie’s symptoms began as excessive daytime sleepiness around age 9, said her mother, Cynthia, who was home-schooling her at the time. Other factors are heredity, infection and brain injuries. It’s now thought that an auto-immune reaction - triggered by an environmental stress, such as the H1N1 flu virus - can cause the body to stop production of hypocretin, which then derails the sleep cycle. According to the NIH, most people with narcolepsy have low levels of hypocretin, a brain chemical that helps with wakefulness. What causes narcolepsy isn’t well understood. Narcolepsy “affects your interactions with others,” said Mackenzie, including “trying to convince teachers that ‘I’m not lazy’ - and yourself that there’s nothing wrong.” ![]()
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