Ah So THAT'S What It Is!

I never thought I was alone out here.  After all it's a big world and I figure I just haven't met others with this quirk.

Sleep disorder leaves author in sync only with himself

What he found a good idea to obey is his disorder, called non-24-hour sleep-wake syndrome, or hypernychthemeral. He tried to fight it as a child and young adult, but not now. He goes with it.
...
He says he sleeps a solid eight hours and is awake for about 17 hours — just not the same hours as everyone else. His waking changes about 20 minutes a day he adds. In other words, someone could sleep from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. during Week 1, then by Week 4 sleep from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Thats it!!! Exactly!  They couldn't have described how my wake/sleep cycle works any more precisely! Wow - color me astounded. It's the first I've heard of this.

Of course I haven't been as lucky as George Dawes, I've just lived with this issue on everyone else's schedule.  It has always annoyed me that the world seems to run on a very set schedule of early morning up and early evening to bed. 

Oddly enough one thing I keep thinking is... what if I have to ever go into a nursing home?  Geeze louise, they'll kill me trying to get me up and feed me breakfast at some ridiculous hour of the morning when I have not got the least desire to be awake or eat anything.  Then they'll give me drugs to cure it... even though I've always been like this, even as a child.

Unlike Dawes who is single and writes for a living, I do try to conform somewhat to the regular world and its time schedule.   Especially in where I live now, there is no such thing as 24 hour stores so I have to get many things done during the day that I used to be able to put off doing until late when I felt more awake.

Experts say people who have the disorder can rarely work a normal workday or have satisfying relationships — and are often mistaken for having insomnia. Dawes is single, although, he says, "I'm a very social person." He tried shift work and worked as a guard at night before he started his own business.

Well, so far my husband has stuck with me for 30 years so it's possible I have slightly better powers of compensation than others do with this.  Also my current job allows me some latitude with timing which is not available in the normal work world.  I've been very lucky with these things.

But at least I feel somewhat vindicated!  I don't have "insomnia" most of the time.  Once I get to sleep I generally sleep for at least 6 hours straight. It's just that my timing for sleeping those hours seems to be very off from everyone else's. 

Who knew.

After reading this entire article.  I found it hilarious that USA Today (today today) decided they had to - just HAD TO - give the world tips on how to combat insomnia!!!! They didn't even read their own article.  Ha!  Figures.

Posted by: Teresa in Life Stuff at 08:37 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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