Sleeping On the Job

Funny stories surround narcolepsy, both from those who watch narcoleptics fell into dreamland in the snap of a finger, and from the narcoleptics themselves if they happen to have a sense of humor themselves.

“PATCH, have you heard of narcolepsy?”

"Would you take care of this one for me, please?"

Narcolepsy is a long-running sleep disorder resulting from problems in human nerves. It is technically called "Dyssomnia."

Narcoleptics have excessive urge to sleep when they should not sleep, such as while at work or at school. Imagine what chaos will result when a teacher in kindergarten slept standing before her pupils.

That would be less noisy with college students who, having noticed their professor in his “turn-off” mode, would simply sneak out of the classroom with as much silence as possible.

Indeed the pull toward slumber is very strong among narcoleptics. While most people take 90 minutes to get into rapid eye movement (REM) when asleep, narcoleptics breeze the way within... [READ MORE]

This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 26 October 2011.

Comments

POST-PRESS: Narcissistic Disorder, Ground for Annulment

On 20 May 2011 (Friday), the First Division of the Philippine Court of Appeals dismissed the plea that Julie Balarbar, wife of 15 years of House Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III, filed questioning the November 25, 2010 decision of the Makati Regional Court declaring the marriage null and void on the ground that Balarbar had been diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Pyschiatric evaluation show a diagnosis of NPD with anti-social features, from her involvement in a shoplifting incident, her closeness to and trips abroad with her male students, and a kissing incident with a co-professor. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder Fourth Edition (DSM IV-TR) enumerated nine indicators of NPD, with only five of them needed for the diagnosis. It is not clear however which indicators have been found in the case of the Tañada annulment case. The Archdiocese of Manila also declared their canonical marriage void ab initio (void from the start) due to "gra...

Death By Heat Stroke in the Philippines

The hotter and earlier-onset El Niño phenomenon this year 2010 poses a threat to the Filipino lives. How much life it took? See incidence that reached the news. UPDATE On 19 May 2010, candidate army soldier Ericson Pascua (22) came on his first day of training in Isabela when he collapsed after a series of strenous exercise. Although rushed to the hospital immediately, he died shortly afterwards (around 11 a.m.) due to heat stroke. That day Isabela peaked at 38.2 degrees Celsius. Sixteen others were rushed to the hospital for dehydration and heat exhaustion. (Check report ) On 28 April 2010, a veteran Cavite cop, PO3 Florencio Gamana Alivio (48), succumbed to cardiac arrest as a result to heatstroke while having tae bo with his colleagues at the Cavite Police Provincial Office (CPPO) grounds in Camp General Pantaleon. He reached the Imus MEdical Center but pronounced dead at 5:15 PM. (Check report ) In Batangas, former governor Amando Sanchez (57)di...

Omicron Updates

(Source: Penzit, 2015) UNITED KINGDOM As of 29 December 2021, the UK Health Security Agency reported the current status of its Omicron cases under emergency care. The lowest emergency admission rate is among those who received one dose of vaccine up to 21 days before specimen date: 0.1%. However, the overall rate for vaccinated individuals was very high at 72.5%. The unvaccinated emergency admission rate was 25.3%. (Source: SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern and Variants under Investigation in England , 31 December 2021, page 8)

Breakthroughs Today

Search This Blog