Regarding the hour

[prog]

A weblog from someone with similar sleep patterns as me, but putting some actual research into it, including consulting physicians. One gave the person an actual diagnosis I have not heard of before: Delayed Sleep-Phase Syndrome.

That certainly gives me pause for thought. I was also struck by the writer's description of spending hours lying awake after being sent to bed, as a child. By gar, my own bedtimes were just so, night after night. I haven't thought about it in a long time, but I absolutely remember the truth of it. Have I been shifted forward like this my whole life?

And now that I have a new straw to grasp at, should I try again to do something about it?

Comments

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

How much of a "disability" is it to you these days? There will be a certain amount of stress associated with trying to force yourself into a schedule you're not suited for. OTOH, what do you trade for that?

[in-parentheses.livejournal.com]

This is an excellent question. It seems to me that part of the point of being self-employed is the ability to keep whatever schedule suits you best (so long as stuff still gets done, of course).

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Yeah. My own shifted schedule works well for me as a grad student. When I get an actual job, of course...well, we'll see.

My friend silkblade also has DSPS. Unfortunately, when I went to MIT Medical a few years ago about it, the doctor there was so condescending and dismissive that it soured me on trying to do anything about it.

[prog.livejournal.com]

Right. And the fact is that every job I've held since 1998 hasn't really cared when I showed up, so long as I appeared to be doing work. So I've actually been suffering from / getting away with this for a long time.

Right now, the main reasons I've (sometimes) longed for a more normal sleep schedule include my self-observed psychological dependence on sunlight, and my wish to be in synch with my friends so that their evening social events don't happen around my personal lunchtime.

Possible solution to the sunlight thing, from what I'm reading: bright indoor lighting. Well, shoot, this can be arranged. Yes, in fact, the lighting in my apartment / office tends to be dim.

The social thing is another bag of rocks. Going to be social effectively results in a half-day of work that day, since I usually don't wanna do work after coming home from something like that. I could go to less events, but that would make me sad. And trying to force a change in my sleep cycle for that, making myself physically suffer in order to make my party-going work better, seems perverse somehow. So I dunno.