You climb into bed, turn off the light, and close your eyes, but you can't fall asleep. For most of us, it's just one annoying night, but for people with fatal familial insomnia, or FFI, it's the beginning of the end. An extremely rare genetic disease passed down through generations, FFI's primary symptom is sleeplessness, but with a fatal twist: victims are dead within months. To understand FFI, National Geographic delves into the science of sleep—the most elusive biological function we have—to find out why we need sleep and what happens to us when we don't get it. Witness the pioneering research inside the sleeping brain as well as the mind forbidden to rest for days at a time.

Not available for shipment outside of the U.S. and Canada.

• 1 disc; 50 min
• Widescreen
• © 2010

National Geographic DVD Exclusives

For the first time ever, National Geographic presents its programming in DVD-R format. Available exclusively through this site, you can now own more of our award-winning specials and documentaries in a high-quality DVD format.

How our DVDs and DVD-Rs Differ

Customers who purchase programs in the NG DVD Exclusives Library will receive a non-interactive, play only disc. There is no chaptering information on these DVDs, but there are chapter marks approximately every five minutes, which make it easy to fast forward through a program. The DVD-R format provides the digital video and audio quality you expect from all of our DVDs.

NOTE: The NG DVD Exclusives titles are not closed-captioned. We apologize for any inconvenience this limitation may cause.