there’s a sleep “disorder” that is literally just “your circadian rhythm is inconvenient for school/work” and people with it have to take meds to make themselves sleepy earlier/later
otherwise there’s absolutely nothing wrong with their quality/amount of sleep they just don’t have a schedule that works for society
shout out to second shifters – i traded prime time for good sleep
It’s even got disorder in the name: delayed sleep phase disorder. And yes, if you have to have a “normal” schedule, it makes your life hell.
Oh, and it can run in families. Thanks Dad. 🙄
So many disabilities are disabling not because they’re inherently impairing, but because society just doesn’t make room for us
ADHD throws your circadian rhythm off, too. Most people with ADHD have a natural circadian rhythm that makes us tired from, generally, about 4am to noon – myself included. When I’m left to my own devices, those are basically the exact times I will naturally fall asleep and wake up.
“Why do kids with ADHD have so much trouble in school? Why do adults with ADHD have so much trouble keeping decent 9-5 jobs?” Well, gee, maybe because it’s hard to get any work done when our bodies are literally programmed to be asleep. How well would you perform if you had to wake up at the equivalent of 2am to go to school or work? Not well? Then imagine how it feels for us, every single day of our lives.
There’s a lot about ADHD which I hate and wish would go away, but this part? See above. Our circadian rhythm is only disabling to us because society refuses to make room for us.
Tag: Night owl
Honestly this is why I work 3rd shift happily.
My BiL is a neurologist who has done a lot of sleep research and one of his favorite areas of study is circadian rhythms. He says that being a night owl is real, it is predicated on the genetic structure of the brain, it is not just “laziness,” and it is not a disorder. He hypothesizes that its original evolutionary purpose was basically to produce night watchmen—people who can stay awake and alert at night to protect the domicile while the early birds sleep.
So we’re not lazy, night owls; we’re the fucking late shift lookouts. Gonna grab my torch and patrol the perimeter if anyone would like to join me.
WE ARE SENTINELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@thebibliosphere this made me think of that ADHD sleep cycle post. 😊
I knew there was some sort of evolutionary reason for me being a relentless night owl shitposter.
its really weird to see all these articles about how people who have ADHD have sleeping problems but the issue I have is that if you look at it as a matter of your circadian rythym being out of sync? of COURSE you’re not going to be able to sleep. we don’t say people who can’t fall asleep at 4 pm and sleep 8 hours have insomnia, because that’s not a normally agreed upon time to sleep and its not your bodies time to sleep. if you tell someone to go to bed at 10 and they can’t sleep till 3 am sometimes in just not insomnia. people with ADHD are often wired to sleep from 4 am to 12 pm ish because of the delayed onset of melatonin but if you let us go to bed at the time we need? most of us actually sleep pretty well and consistently.
wAIT THIS IS AN ACTUAL THING THAT EXISTS
“For most adults the onset of melatonin is around 9.30 pm; in ADHD children compared to controls this occurs at least 45 minutes later, and in adults with ADHD even 90 minutes (van der Heijden ea, 2005; van Veen ea 2010). After melatonin onset, it normally takes 2 hours to fall asleep, but in adults with ADHD it takes at least 3 hours (Bijlenga et al, 2013).”
Look at me awake at 1:47 am and reblogging this post.
So I’m actually trained in therapy for addressing insomnia and one of the things we learned is that a good chunk of sleep problems are societal disorders – as in they WOULDN’T EXIST as problems if society didn’t assume everyone was on the same circadian rhythm and that being up and working 9-5 was mandatory/normal. Blew my mind and made so much sense. You are not the problem, society is literally the problem.
Honestly this is why I work 3rd shift happily.
My BiL is a neurologist who has done a lot of sleep research and one of his favorite areas of study is circadian rhythms. He says that being a night owl is real, it is predicated on the genetic structure of the brain, it is not just “laziness,” and it is not a disorder. He hypothesizes that its original evolutionary purpose was basically to produce night watchmen—people who can stay awake and alert at night to protect the domicile while the early birds sleep.
So we’re not lazy, night owls; we’re the fucking late shift lookouts. Gonna grab my torch and patrol the perimeter if anyone would like to join me.
WE ARE SENTINELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@thebibliosphere this made me think of that ADHD sleep cycle post. 😊
I knew there was some sort of evolutionary reason for me being a relentless night owl shitposter.