Is love of sleep really a disease? Charity art exhibition, free sleep clinic, dream graffiti, this science + art sharing will take us into the "rare dream"...

Do you know that there is a group of children who can fall asleep and dream at any time and anywhere. Maybe in a tense examination room, maybe in a playground full of laughter, or even on a zebra crossing with flashing red and green lights, sleepiness will suddenly attack them without warning. And along with sleepiness, there are all kinds of real dreams.

This is a rare disease called narcolepsy. But in fact, it is not that "rare". As a rare chronic neurological disease that is common in children, the incidence rate of narcolepsy is about 1/2000.

However, due to the public's lack of familiarity with narcolepsy, about half of patients are still undiagnosed. Although narcolepsy is a lifelong disease, if it is accurately diagnosed in the early stages and treated appropriately, a lot of functional impairment in the later stages can be avoided.

On June 1, the Zhejiang Association for Science and Technology's "e-Science Tree" series of activities, in collaboration with the Run Run Shaw Hospital affiliated to Zhejiang University School of Medicine, the Shanghai Charity Foundation, and others, launched a charity painting exhibition on the theme of "Rare Dreams" sleeping sickness at Zhongshuge in Hangzhou. The exhibition hopes to popularize narcolepsy to more people through the intuitive art form of painting, and to help everyone have a more scientific understanding of rare diseases.

“Rare Dreams” Are Not Rare

The sleepy Nobita needs more people who understand him

Yesterday afternoon, a special event about "dreams" kicked off. In addition to ordinary audiences, patients with narcolepsy and dream volunteers participating in the exhibition also shared their real experiences with everyone through live broadcasts or in person. Juezhu (the self-proclaimed name of narcolepsy patients) Fu Ka created the work "Hug in Thorns" in this exhibition. The inspiration for the creation came from her own dreams, "Those hands in the dream really grabbed my neck." The dreams of narcolepsy patients are more real than those of ordinary people, so those nightmares will bring greater tension and pressure to children. Juezhu Xiaowei said, "The best way to overcome this fear is to face it head-on."

But it is not easy for children who are not yet adults to overcome such fear. First of all, we need to have a scientific understanding of narcolepsy.

At the event, Zhang Lisan, deputy director of the Run Run Shaw Neurology Department and executive director of the Sleep Medicine Center affiliated to Zhejiang University School of Medicine, gave a popular science introduction to narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is clinically characterized by irresistible short-term sleep attacks, often accompanied by other symptoms such as cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and sleep hallucinations.

As an expert in narcolepsy, Dr. Zhang told everyone that for patients, in addition to reasonable treatment, spiritual support is very important. "Narcolepsy has no effect on people's intelligence. If it is diagnosed early and accurately, the patient's life will not change," Zhang Lisan told everyone that a patient with narcolepsy is a scientist who has been nominated for the Nobel Prize.

But now, the misdiagnosis rate of narcolepsy is very high. "I roughly calculated that according to the proportion, there should be 20,000 to 30,000 patients in Zhejiang Province, but most of them have not been detected now." Many patients are labeled as "lazy" and "unmotivated" before being diagnosed. Some patients compare themselves to Nobita in the cartoon who wants to learn but can't, always makes a fool of himself, is bullied by friends, and scolded by his mother. "I am Nobita, but I don't have Doraemon or Shizuka." But in fact, it is the disease of "loving to sleep" that makes them lose the opportunity to work hard.

At the event, Dr. Zhang Lisan's team also launched a free sleep clinic, calling on the public to pay attention to children's sleep health. The participating families also received a canvas bag with the "Airbus" pattern created by the famous painter Jeffrey Xie Jianping, and had a special dream graffiti parent-child experience.

The psychological self-test form on the Internet is not scientific

Every "special" child should have a life that suits him or her

What should I do if my child doesn't sleep well and has many dreams? Wu Liuming, a psychotherapist at the Children and Adolescents Psychology Clinic of the Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University and a national second-level psychological counselor, also shared scientific knowledge about children's sleep. In addition to physiological diseases, children's sleep problems are caused by many physiological and psychological factors, such as lack of vitamin D, lack of exercise, and emotional problems caused by various factors that can also affect sleep.

How to scientifically regulate children's sleep? Wu Liuming told parents that, in addition to physiological factors, parents should create a good sleeping environment to help children maintain a stable sleep rhythm. "For example, tell a bedtime story at a fixed time every night, then turn off the lights, hug, and go to sleep. A stable bedtime routine can help children fall asleep more easily." Stable rhythm is the premise of a sense of security. The younger the child, the more important it is.

Secondly, we should pay attention to the child's emotional state and avoid scolding or punishing the child before bedtime, which will cause negative emotions to accumulate. For sensitive children's worries and fears, we should accept them with empathy, and appropriately increase physical comfort such as hugs and massages to help children feel at ease.

As for children with physical problems, Wu Liuming also believes that parents should be supportive of their children, "supporting them to become unique individuals so that they can have a life that suits them." "Sometimes, the lack of understanding and misunderstanding of people around them caused by the disease can cause greater trauma to the patient."

In addition to narcolepsy, Wu Liuming also shared with everyone about ADHD. "The scientific name of ADHD is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Although it is one of the most common mental and behavioral disorders in children, its diagnosis rate is still very low." Wu Liuming urged everyone to pay more attention to the condition of their children. When they find a problem, don't just take a psychological test online. Any disease needs to be scientifically judged in combination with clinical practice. "It is recommended that parents first ask the teacher how their children perform in class, because the teacher sees many children at the same time, there will be a horizontal comparison, which will be a more valuable reference."

【ABOUT. e-TECHNOLOGY】

Flaubert once said: "Science and art always meet at the top of the mountain." And the famous Chinese physicist Tsung-Dao Lee also said: "Science and art are inseparable, like two sides of a coin. Their common foundation is human creativity, and their goal is the universality of truth."

The Yikeshu science popularization brand has created a new science popularization concept of "science + art", and will be completely upgraded to "eKeshu" in 2022, adding the concept of digitalization, using a wider range of scientific topics and deeper scientific communication to interpret more possibilities of science.