What Is Sporadic Fatal Insomnia?
Sporadic fatal insomnia is a type of insomnia that is not caused by stress, diet, changes in lifestyle, medications, etc. This type of insomnia is caused by a protein in the body called a prion. The prion somehow becomes malformed and affects one specific area of the brain. The area of the brain that is affected is the thalamus and the function of the thalamus is that portion of the brain that influences an individual’s sleep. The similarity between sporadic fatal insomnia and mad cow disease are physiologically connected as both conditions are caused by the same deformed protein.
