On September 22, 2024, people around the world joined together in celebrating the sixth annual World Narcolepsy Day to raise awareness and fight stigma around this chronic neurological condition. Members of the community from across the globe participated in activities to show their support via storysharing, social media engagement, broadcast events, and newscasts.
Here, we’d like to highlight some of the incredible initiatives that took place to commemorate the day.
Rising Voices speaker Orla Nolan, an organizational psychologist from Ireland, shared her story of being diagnosed with type 2 narcolepsy without cataplexy at age 36 after developing symptoms in her late teens, and the highs and lows of discovering how to manage life with narcolepsy.
Rising Voices speaker Liesel Mitchell, a researcher and writer from Aotearoa New Zealand, shared her experience of living with type 1 narcolepsy with cataplexy since the age of 15, and how she learned to manage her condition through major life events including successfully earning her PhD.
In this panel discussion, NFL veteran Josh Andrews, Project Sleep President & CEO Julie Flygare, and Harmony Biosciences Director of External Communications Christian Emering discussed a new collaborative Scientific American article highlighting the importance of World Narcolepsy Day, and discussed the challenges and opportunities for increasing narcolepsy awareness, especially via the media.
Julie was interviewed by ABC News Live’s Diane Macedo about her symptoms and experience getting diagnosed with narcolepsy, stressing the common misconceptions of the disorder which often lead to long delays in diagnosis.
Project Sleep was featured in an article in Scientific American titled, “Global Wake-up Call Helps Bring Narcolepsy to Light.” The article features the stories of NFL veteran, Josh Andrews, and President & CEO of Project Sleep, Julie Flygare, JD, and highlights narcolepsy education and awareness.
To celebrate World Narcolepsy Day, members of the global community took to our space-themed virtual photo booth to take 580 photos and spread the word about narcolepsy. Check out some of these fun snaps here!
We love seeing your creative and informative World Narcolepsy Day Instagram Reels! Click to watch a few from @zebra.rae, @sleeping.beauty_md, @expertaendormir, and @revealingtheivorytowerpodcast.
A sincere thank you to all the members of our community who participated to make World Narcolepsy Day 2024 such a success. Watching this initiative grow every year, along with its reach and the size of our community, is nothing short of inspiring. For more glimpses of World Narcolepsy Day in action, go to Instagram and search the hashtag #WorldNarcolepsyDay.
We extend our gratitude to our partner organizations around the world and all those who engaged in Project Sleep’s activities. Your participation leaves an indelible mark on our world!
45 amazing community members gave their time and energy as World Narcolepsy Day Ambassadors to promote awareness of narcolepsy by participating in activities, raising funds, and spreading the word about narcolepsy in their schools, workplaces, and communities. HUGE thanks to all our WND Ambassadors and a special shoutout to our top three fundraisers: Zoe Gwinn, Danielle Rauch, and Louise Brown.
Special thanks to our fantastic volunteers for supporting the many projects, events, and initiatives organized to celebrate World Narcolepsy Day. We couldn’t have connected with our global community without the time, effort, ideas, and enthusiasm of this team. Thank you to Kristen, Emma, Chelsea, Tracy, Jenny, Taylor, Tara, Brynnlee, and Lindsey for all your help!
Please rest well for now, friends. We can’t wait to celebrate World Narcolepsy Day with you again on September 22nd, 2025!
