Symptoms of narcolepsy that involve diagnosis and treatment on patients. Being able to stay awake is important. There are many tasks that a person will need to do to stay awake and be alert. For example, a surgeon will have to stay focused so as not to harm a patient during surgery. Being awake while driving is essential if you do not want to risk injury or death. There are some people who may have difficulty staying awake. A sleep disorder that affects sleep function and the ability to stay awake is called narcolepsy. People with this disorder may experience drowsiness which will result in sleepiness during the day. It can last from several seconds to minutes. Narcolepsy will affect a person's schedule, such as school or work performance. Both males and females around the world can be affected by narcolepsy. Symptoms may begin in childhood or later in life, around age 10 to 25. They can get worse in the early years and progress throughout life. The four main symptoms are excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, hallucinations and sleep paralysis. Excessive daytime sleepiness is the first visible symptom of narcolepsy; a person will fall asleep easily without any decline. It can happen in relaxed situations and at the wrong times and places. Some examples would be people falling asleep while watching television, having a conversation, or attending a meeting. People may still experience excessive daytime sleepiness even after getting a sufficient amount of sleep. This can last anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour before you wake up feeling replenished and then continue to sleep. “Patients may describe this symptom as tiredness, fatigue, drowsiness, feeling sluggish or lacking energy.” or the MSLT. The MSLT involves observing a person's habit of falling asleep and seeing if isolated elements of REM occur at unusual times during waking hours. It measures the amount of time it takes for a person to fall asleep. A patient is told to take four to five naps, but each nap is two hours apart. With sleep latency periods typically twelve minutes or more, a sleep latency of eight minutes or less suggests a disorder of excessive daytime sleepiness. Heart rate and respiratory rate are measured by the MSLT. If a person goes through REM sleep at the beginning of or within a few minutes of starting sleep during at least two of the required naps, it is seen as a sign of narcolepsy.