For hundreds of people around the world, Kleine Levin syndrome (KLS) is a mysterious demon that periodically blankets their lives in sleep. …

The pro-convulsant drug pentylenetetrazol or PTZ has a fascinating history. PTZ’s first medical uses in the 1920s predate the discovery of amphetamines. In the 1930s, it was used in psychiatric hospitals to deliberately induce seizures in people with schizophrenia. …

In October, someone with idiopathic hypersomnia contacted me with a series of insightful questions. It reminded me why I started writing my book in the first place. People with IH and narcolepsy type 2 are hungry to understand the origins of their sleep disorders — and science doesn’t have much…

In the spring and summer of 1997, residents of Camigliano, a community in Tuscany near Lucca, began falling asleep under mysterious circumstances. One by one, seven people entered a trance-like lethargic state, typically lasting 10 to 20 hours. The strange somnolence affected a woman in her 80s more than 10…