Meditation as a non-pharmacological treatment for narcolepsy: A literature review.
Sleep medicine June 24, 2025 Fan Feng, Hui Guo, Grace A Ding et al. 2 citations
Narcolepsy, a sleep disorder marked by excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hallucinations, often reduces social functioning and quality of life. While medications can improve symptoms, they carry side effects like headaches, dizziness, and insomnia. Meditation, a non-pharmacological practice that regulates attention and emotion, may offer a viable alternative. This review introduces meditation's conceptualization and applications, and examines potential mechanisms and existing evidence for its use in reducing narcolepsy symptoms, including excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and overweight.