Circadian rhythm sleep disorder Puns

"Circadian rhythm sleep disorders are tied to dysfunctions or misalignments with the body’s internal clock.

DELAYED SLEEP PHASE DISORDER:

Occurs when a person’s sleep cycle is pushed back more than two hours beyond what is considered a typical sleep schedule. People with this condition often suffer from lack of sleep if they have school or work obligations that require an early wake-up time. Many people with this disorder are considered evening chronotypes, or night owls.

NON-24 SLEEP DISORDER:

Occurs when the internal clock does not reset every 24 hours. As a result, a person’s normal sleep period is constantly shifting, working its way around the clock over a period of days or weeks. People with this condition may have insomnia symptoms and excessive daytime sleepiness when their sleep periods don’t match up with the schedule of their social and professional life. When their schedule aligns with sleep periods, a person with this condition experiences few, if any, sleep disturbances."

Hopefully this might be helpful. I suffered for years thinking it was Insomnia that I just could not beat, until I found out about DSPD and everything finally made sense. It's nice to not be so tired all the time, trying to fit myself into the norm; I now work nights and sleep from 5am to after noon, and I am so much more functional!

I've had terrible time falling asleep at night since about age 3 and terrible waking up since I was 8 or so, and daytime sleepiness since age 12 to the point of falling asleep standing up a few times, and it's only gotten worse over the years, to the point where I'm flaking on people because I actually oversleep unintentionally by 4+ hours and it's starting to ruin my relationships, job prospects, and life (this is ON TOP of significant inattentive ADHD and either atypical depression or bipolar 2 that I've had documented as just "mood disorder" since adolescence). It's also why I'm a college graduate but I live below the poverty line despite trying hard to fix my situation, because I'm always so dang tired, even when I'm not sleepy and can't sleep for some reason. I have a diagnosis of a circadian rhythm disorder but the doctor who diagnosed me said he would love to get me in for a sleep study given how erratic my sleep seems to be without rhyme or reason, unfortunately my insurance will only cover it for sleep apnea purposes.

So long story short I'm wondering if I have enough markers to qualify for possible sleep apnea, since the only way Medicaid will cover a sleep study is to check for sleep apnea. I currently make well under $2k a month and have over $24k in student debt and so paying out of pocket is out of the question. The problem is, I'm not an overweight middle aged man (I'm 33F, my BMI is around 24-25 and pretty muscular, and have been relatively fit for most of my adult life and was for over half of my childhood as well). But recently I've been informed by my sleeping partner that I snore... a lot. I also:

-- wake up coughing sometimes

-- wake up to go to the bathroom at least 2x a night normally

--am tired all day most days even with adderall and caffeine, feel like I need a nap midday if I wake up before 11 am no matter what

-- have slept through 10+ alarms and not even remembered them going off frequently

-- have frequent brain fog (but that might just be ADHD)

--am depressed often (but that could just be my unrelated mood disorder which is also genetic)

-- have an unusually wide neck for my head (I've heard this is a risk factor, though it could just be body dysmorphia lol)

I also tend to have this problem less if I've been undereating or dieting (which is obviously unsustainable long term, and I'm not sure what that's about) or if I'm hypomanic (which will happen for like 2 weeks, I'll be reliable and motivated, just for it all

Dear people of Reddit, I turn to you and your experience looking for help. I suffer from, it seems, quite extreme circadian rhythm disorder. I've always liked to stay up til late hours and sleep a lot, but over the years it's changed from seemingly just a preference to a real problem. Let me describe it in points...

• First thing is obvious - I'm a night owl...
• ...however, in my case, my "natural" go-to-bed hour is 7-8am... And accordingly I wake up around 4-5pm.
• I can't go to bed earlier. I just... kind of don't want to? Like if somebody told you to go to bed on 1 pm. I hope you get what I mean.
• Even if I make myself go to bed, and by some miracle fall asleep earlier, I will still wake up around 4-5pm...
• ...even if it means sleeping for 17 hours. I just did that yesterday.
• If I manage to switch my internal clock to right tracks, for example by getting up early and working hard for the whole day, it will gradually revert back anyways. First I will be falling asleep 30 minutes later, then one hour... Then bang, here we go again.
• If I won't set up the alarm clock, I will sleep for 11-12 hours, sometimes more.
• If I, again, go to sleep earlier to overwrite my internal clock, I will sleep for 15-20 hours.
• No matter when and for how long I sleep, day seems to be my natural sleep time. I'm almost always weary and tired during the day and I crave a nap. I have problems working, I barely can force myself to do any chores or any kind of work.
• Quite opposite during the night. I have energy and I want to paint, write, clean my place, complete my assignments, record a long overdue vlog... Everything.

Those are just some, although the most important, examples. The thing is I just can't make myself sleep earlier. It's unnatural for me, it makes me unhappy, it's pretty much against my "nature". But I can't accept it either - as you can imagine this keeps me away from a day job, social life, shopping etc. I want to be fully awake and energetic during the day, but I seem to be unable to do so.

I've tried resetting my internal clock, sticking to sleep schedule, drinking something warm before sleep, taking multiple kinds of drugs, playing white noise or sleeping podcasts/music and probably a dozen different things...

I'm not looking for obvious points like that; I'm looking for your experience, insight, knowledge, advice about such problems.

It's 3:21 am here and I can't sleep. And I have a work to attend in the morning. Please help.

It’s just ticked past midnight on November 24th, which is Non-24 hour (N24) awareness day, alsoo known as N24 sleep-wake circadian rhythm disorder. This is something that I’ve had since turning 20, and is marked by a continuously advancing sleeping cycle, like a persistant and permanent jetlag.

In June I purchased a Google Nest, which I was interested in for its integrated sleep tracking. Below I’ve shared screenshots of my sleep schedule for the past 4 months, mostly because I find it visually interesting. You can see how my sleep progresses about 45-60 minutes every day, in a cycle of approximately 24-28 days.

The data isn’t perfect, probably because I confuse the sensors, but there are interesting patterns. Note that my sleep is often biphasal, which is physiologically more natural than 8 hour phases introduced in the industrial era. There are often periods when my sleep is disrupted during daytime hours for whatever reason.

N24 occurs in about 1 in 100,000 individuals and is not completely understood. It is most common in completely blind people. Most likely it is congenital; from birth, I had delayed-sleep phase disorder, where I would typically go to bed at 4am and wake up at noon. The shift from delayed-phase to N24 was marked by a year of depression in 2006.

I believe there is a strong link between my condition and my emotional balance, and I have a predisposition towards depression. Given that I am spending 10-14 days every month completely alone at night, it is important that I can self-manage my emotions. Thankfully, I am naturally introverted. There are times when loneliness will get to me. The fact that late-night human connection only exists in casinos and strip clubs presents a risk.

On the other hand, N24 has given me some opportunities when I use it to my advantage. I like to read, and practice writing, and the quiet gives me solace. Meditation is easiest in the dead of night. The internet is a wonderful resource, and at times I’ve engaged people on the other side of the world during their waking hours.

Relationships and friendships can be difficult, and I ask for people to be understanding. I’ve come to learn that valuable people are ones who keep a connection even when it is inconvenient. Most people who come into my life have flexible or reduced working hours such as entrepreneurs, casual/temp workers, and other people with reduced capacity. I’ve had a few long-distance relationships, which worked better than you might expect. St

Might take me a while to respond being up at this time is pretty abnormal so I’ll probably finally fall asleep soon and won’t wake up till 9 which is typically when my day “starts” so don’t expect immediate responses especially during “normal” hours.

Does anyone else have a circadian rhythm that’s longer than 24 hours?

I read about it and I think that’s what I might have, if I let it I’ll start going to bed at 4-6 am and waking up around 2-3 pm. It’s fine because I have night classes, but it makes me really sad because I miss the sunlight. I’ve noticed my body has always been like this, I’m not really tired until a few hours after I’m supposed to go to bed. And then I’m tired throughout the day. Sleeping medicine just makes it worse, if it does work it knocks me out too well and makes it so that I don’t care when I wake up. It’s kindof embarrassing to sleep through a 1 p.m. class. Partially I think I’m just depressed. But this has been an issue my entire life. (Which is one of the reasons why I think the issue runs deeper than blue light). When I was in grade school I just wouldn’t sleep at all sometimes.

I’m trying to do a “hard reset”, it’s around 8 am and I haven’t slept yet. I’m really dreading the day today. Does anyone have any tips? I already feel kindof gross and it’s really discouraging everyone seems to think I’m just lazy.

I know it’s not as bad as a lot of people have it. But I would really appreciate any support or advice from someone who truly understands

I've been reading about how sleep deprived individuals and people with circadian rhythm disorders are at higher risk of getting cancer. While I can understand sleep deprivation being a probable carcinogen, I am wondering if someone who sleeps at unconventional times is still at risk if they are getting enough sleep. Anyone know if circadian rhythm disorders such as Non-24 puts us at increased cancer risk even if we don't fight it and usually get enough sleep?

So for the last month and a half I’ve had trouble falling asleep at the intended time. and my sleep consists of only 2-3 hour naps. Im in bed by 7 pm, sometimes even 5pm if I’m done with work early but I can’t fall asleep before 2 am.

I think it has something to do with the increased dissatisfaction of my job. I work casual in childcare and I get a call anytime between 6-9 am on weekdays. I hate going to work but I just finished my masters in uni and I can’t find a job in my field, so I’m sticking to this job to make money.

It’s come to the point where I’m severely anxious about getting a call in the morning. Now I don’t get a call everyday but I do wake up by 6 even if I sleep by 2 and then I’m napping till about noon, with an interval of being up every 2 hours. It doesn’t help that our neighbours are doing some noisy ass constructions from 7 am and that wakes me up even if I do doze off. I also have very vivid dreams for a 1.5h nap.

I haven’t been clinically diagnosed with anxiety but I have been feeling stressful and anxious lately cos of my work situation and some things going on in my personal life. Which is strange because I can usually handle anxiety pretty well. It could be the stress that’s keeping me up, but it could also maybe be the fact that I’m in my bed from 5 pm? I would say I’m pretty active during the day - if I’m not working, I’m going to the gym or going around the city (although I do feel lethargic and tired even when I haven’t done anything).

I never used to have issues sleeping and I take recreational drugs once in 1-3 months. I’ve reduced my weed consumption heavily. I don’t know what to do. I love sleep and I miss waking up after a really good 8 hour-er :( any tips? Sorry to pour all this random shit out but I feel like this fragmented sleep is putting me in a horrible place.

33F. I am diagnosed with bipolar 2 and anxiety (taking Lamictal, Welbutrin, Paxil).

I was diagnosed last summer with psychiatric hypersomnia, possibly also have irregular sleep-wake phase syndrome (doctor never used that phrase, but her description of my symptoms [no circadian rhythm, life is a series of naps] mirror the symptoms of that condition).

I’ve been following her treatment suggestion of setting a regular bedtime/wakeup time and keeping a solid schedule. I take melatonin before bed and do light therapy when I wake up. I’m also taking vitamin D3 with my other meds then Unisom/Zzquil to help fall asleep.

I’ve been doing this for about three months and it has been going pretty well, but I’m noticing the start of a hypomanic phase and am worried about how the two are going to interact.

As it is, I lay in bed with no phone trying to sleep for the extent of my “sleep” hours, but I can’t do that if my body only wants one or two hours of sleep and feels energetic and agitated the rest of the time.

How should I handle the hypomanic reduced need for sleep with my regulated sleep schedule? Do I try to set aside the same time every day for my two hours of sleep? And how would I go about doing that — my sleep problems all started because I can’t force myself to sleep at a designated time.

My whole schedule has gone to absolute hell in the last couple weeks as hypomania has set in and I’m getting a lot of anxiety and doubt about whether this is even possible to solve. I’m just freaking out and googling like mad but can’t find the exact answers I need about dealing with bipolar and circadian rhythm disorders (I’ve learned all about the comorbidity and CBT suggestions but no troubleshooting) and I just need some advice or someone to tell me if this is even possible to fix or if I’m going to be stuck with this sleep misery forever.

(I had insurance problems with my sleep doctor last summer and have resolved those with the new year and have made an an appointment but it isn’t for another month so I can’t ask her.)

EDIT: Reading this post has erased any doubts in my mind about whether I’m hypomanic right now...

My daughter has this disorder. How do you deal with people giving you advice (when I don’t ask for it)? This disability has been very hard for me to understand. When she was younger, it caused a lot of problems with school, my job, and my “friends”. They think they have the right to give their unwanted opinion. I guess it is my fault too for sharing my situation. How do you deal with this? In the past, I am guilty of yelling at her causing a lot more friction. I love my daughter and do the right thing. I just don’t know what that is. Thank you for reading this.

I have trouble waking up in the morning and, then, no matter how tired I am all day, tend to be wide awake at 11pm. I always used to say that I felt like my circadian rhythm (sleep/wake cycle) was 25 hours instead of 24, so that even if I got up on time, I'd be naturally awake for an extra hour before getting tired, making it very hard to stay on that schedule (particularly in the winter). Well, I mentioned this offhandedly to my psychiatrist a few years ago, and it turns out that a) it's an actual thing and b) a high percentage of people with ADHD have it: Circadian rhythm sleep disorder.

BUT...I've found a pretty effective and very easy solution: A light therapy light. I originally bought it to help with winter blues. The one I have is the Philips goLITE Blu (which you can get much cheaper on eBay), but there are plenty of other brands. I like the blue spectrum ones because they're small, rechargeable and take less time to work, but full spectrum works too. I use it for 5-15 minutes in the morning, depending on time of year and now I get tired when I'm supposed to. It started working immediately.

...Now, if I could only find the f*cking power cable, I could get back to using it.

tl;dr: If you have a weird sleep/wake cycle, light therapy can help get your brain on a more standard schedule.

I'm wondering if something like this exists, preferably in the US, but anywhere. Is there a clinic that focuses more specifically on circadian rhythm disorders or even unusual sleep disorders in general? I'm guessing it may be too niche of a thing, but it would be nice to know if there's anyone looking at these things in a specialized way that may be different than typical sleep doctors (who also tend to be pretty pulmonology based).

I'm a scientific researcher, which often leads me on very long searches into my health issues. Insomnia has been a life long issue for me, and lately pretty debilitating. The other day I came across a set of disorders called Circadian rhythm sleep disorders. Mainly the intrinsic types caught my eye since my sleep issues fit 2 of them perfectly, and 1 of them every few weeks.

So I was curious if anyone here has had these diagnosed or tried to talk with their doctor about them? Wikipedia says the circadian rhythm disorders generally aren't known by doctors, so it doesn't surprise me they'd be over looked (through never being considered) for many others as well. Perhaps a sleep specialist would know more about them?

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 89%. (I'm a bot)

> Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder, also known as Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, is a neurological sleep disorder in which a person's sleep/wake cycle is delayed with respect to the external day/night cycle.

> Many patients will have already researched circadian disorders, and come prepared with a sleep log.

> Often the sleep doctor will order an overnight polysomnogram, to detect or to rule out other disorders such as sleep apnea or PLMD. For people with DSPD, this test should be performed when the patient can sleep normally, which may be later than the lab's usual schedule allows.

> Sleep doctors attempt to treat DSPD by prescribing bright light in the morning, restricting light exposure in the evening, and/or prescribing the hormone melatonin in the evening, in an attempt to shift the body's circadian rhythm.

> Sleep doctors may suggest phase-delay chronotherapy, delaying the sleep schedule by moving it later and later to go around the clock until the desired sleep time is reached.

> Circadian Sleep Disorders Network is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization promoting awareness, accommodation, support, and research around the issues of Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders.

Summary Source | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Sleep^#1 DSPD^#2 people^#3 Disorder^#4 schedule^#5

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Hey everyone, I'm a 22M diagnosed with ADHD and circadian rhythm sleep disorder and currently taking vyvanse 40mg.

The most damaging part of these two issues on my life is my inability to wake up at a certain time. I always thought i had some kind of delayed sleep disorder but after going to a sleep specialist and letting myself sleep as my body wants it seems i have an abnormal sleep cycle between 36 and 48 hours where i would sleep once between 8 and 12 hours.

It seems that no matter how much sleep i get, i always feel like absolute garbage in the morning. I can count the number of times I've had a restful sleep in my life on one hand. It takes multiple alarms in multiple places to even attempt getting up, and over time it's gotten worse to the point where i will either sleep through all of them or even get up in my sleep and turn them off with no recollection of it. During the first half of the day i would feel like I'm in a half conscious daze and fall asleep if nothing was happening. The longer I'm awake the more concious and alert i become and i dont feel any kind of sleep deprivation symptoms until after 24 hours of being awake.

If i let myself sleep with no alarm or intervention, i will do so indefinitely: i once slept for 22 hours simply because there was no one else in the house. In addition i also have very weird dreams/nightmares almost every night. I hesitate to call them nightmares because im never terrified or scared and i think because of that they just keep going without end.

I used to smoke weed every day because it would keep me from dreaming and allow me to fall asleep at a regular time and make it easier to wake up. However that's impossible for me to do now for various reasons and it affected my thinking in a negative way smoking it chronically. Being perscribed stimulants alleviated my daytime symtoms, but the effects of vyvanse only seem to last 3-5 hours for me regardless of dose and doesn't address my difficulty waking up or the sleep cycle. Melatonin has literally no effect regardless of dose as well.

I suspect this is because i dont get enough of some sleep phase but the insurance doesnt cover a sleep test so i can't know for sure. It could be that my abnormal cycle is my body compensating for my lack of restful sleep but nobody seems to know for sure. I've been able to reset my schedule through various methods but it never lasts. Logging my dreams only makes me remember more of them which is unwanted.

Hey guys, I've posted here a few times before, I have a lot of the symptoms of N or IH and I'm getting a sleep study done in a few days when I return from a trip. I'm so happy to be doing this because I might finally figure out what's wrong with me and get treated.

I am very worried about a few things though. In addition to all the N-like symptoms I have, I have always been an insomniac. The issue is that my sleep cycle constantly shifts. I will, for example, get on a schedule of waking up at 9 AM and going to bed at 11 PM every day, slowly that will become 9:30 and 11:30. And then 10 and 12. and so on and so on until it ends up being something ridiculous like sleeping at 6 AM and waking up at 3 PM (my situation now). I have some control over this but in the end I really don't think I do. My sleep cycle ALWAYS pushes forward eventually. The only way I've been able to fix this is through pulling all-nighters but my EDS is so bad that I often fuck up and fall asleep and make the sleep cycle worse. I can NEVER sleep earlier and NEVER get up earlier. If I get up even half an hour before I'm used to then I feel like I haven't slept in days. I got up an hour earlier a few days ago to go to an interview and I almost fell asleep while talking to the guy. It took everything in me not to pass out on him; I wasn't even there when I gave him answers. I can always get more sleep but never less without being extremely dysfunctional and falling asleep constantly.

I've also tried "fixing" this sleep cycle issue before by abusing drugs and alcohol to wake up earlier or sleep earlier but it never sticks.

I understand that there are circadian rhythm disorders but I don't really understand the difference between them all. Should I bring this all up at my sleep study? Is there anything I can do for it on my own? Like, preferably in the next few days?

With that said, I'm scared that my fucked up sleep cycle will fuck up my sleep study. I've heard that they WAKE YOU UP at 6 AM, and I can barely fall asleep a lot of the time until 6 AM! They just told me to "get up as early as you can and be as tired as you can" the day of and not to drink caffeine, but I am genuinely scared that I can't make it through a day long enough to get to the sleep study. I'm thinking I'll wake up at 11 AM or something but then fall asleep over and over again throughout the day and then not be tired "enough" when I get there. Especially not without caffeine. I barely got out of bed at 1 PM today with

Since about 2012 I have noticed a weird weekly pattern with my physical wellness. Let me just explain day by day:

Monday - extreme difficulties waking up in the morning. Usually involves sleeping in and once I am awake, I'm plagued by extreme fatigue and muscle weakness throughout the day. Sometimes it hurts so bad to move and hold my body upright that I have to stay home in bed and in agony all day. Sometimes I can still work, but it is with extreme difficulty and discomfort, and my productivity is significantly decreased.

Tuesday - pretty much the same as Monday, but less severe. Most Tuesdays I can still work, though occasionally I arrive late because of difficulties waking up. Some rare bad Tuesdays I am too sick to work. But when I'm well enough to work, I still feel "off" or "sick" and productivity is lower. Tuesdays are Monday Jr.

Wednesday - finally start turning a corner on this day. Waking up is a lot easier, so is moving around and getting through the work day. I finally start to feel happy and almost back to "normal" on Wednesdays. Productivity at work is usually good even with the minor fatigue throughout the day, it's manageable. Body aches and weakness are minimal or non existent.

Thursday - finally back to the old me. Waking up is no problem, getting ready and going to work is no problem. I finally feel productive at work again and basically back to "normal." Thursdays are great days!

Friday - same as Thursday. Great energy levels and productivity. Fatigue and weakness are things of the past. Thursday and Friday are the best days!

Saturday & Sunday - these days can be anything like any of the previous days of the week. This always fluctuates with no consistent pattern week-to-week.

So I think the obvious common denominator here is my sleep schedule. I sleep about midnight-7:30am on weekdays, but then weekends I definitely sleep in. So I wonder if that alone is really setting off my circadian rhythms to make me feel like absolute crap each Monday when I try to get back to my routine?

Also I have two endocrine disorders (autoimmune thyroid disease and polycystic ovarian syndrome) but my endocrinologist said she hasn't heard of anything like this. But I know the endocrine system is related to circadian rhythms so I do still wonder if that could be why. This weekly "cycle" started in about Summer 2012 and I was diagnosed with thyroid disease in November 2012.

I have tried to describe this to people before and most don't underst

There are various sources that are describing circardian rythm and its importance for TSH secretion, like this:

https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/93/6/2300/2598837

There are many other articles regarding this topic, and it lead me to a conclusion (not a scientist), that hypothyrodism could be caused by a disorder in a circadian rythm, probably in elderly people or those that suffer from sleep apnea.. that would explain cases of hypo in which there are no elevated anti-tpo antibodies…

Feel free to comment

I have been teaching math for the last 4 years but I have been essentially “sleepwalking” through my days. I knew something was up and I got diagnosed with delayed phase sleep disorder. So no amount of melatonin, insomnia meds, ambien etc ever made me feel functional in the morning.

The sleep physician said the best “cure” is to find a career that jives with my natural sleep schedule. I know many nurses work overnights. Even though nursing works with my natural sleep schedule, I don’t know if that’s enough of a reason to go back to school at 29, spend thousands of dollars on an education and risk really despising my new career.

I really liked being a teacher despite the constant fatigue. I have been reading a lot of posts on this sub and I am honestly terrified of going into the nursing profession. Any advice is greatly appreciated.