The Effects of Fatal Familial Insomnia on the Hypothalamus

Fatal familial insomnia attacks the thalamus, specifically the hypothalamus. There's this part of your hypothalamus that creates an anti-awaking system. When you're waking normally, those neurons are off and when you're sleeping, they're on. The problem is, if you have fatal familial insomnia, the pre-ons have eaten away at this system. And all of a sudden, that anti-awakening system that keeps you asleep when you're asleep allows you to transition from one stage of sleep to a deeper stage of sleep is no longer active any longer.