#SLEEP DISORDERS

[crippledpunks]

my heart goes out to you if you're a disabled person who has a complicated or negative relationship with sleep. if you need to sleep a lot but can't due to life circumstances, or sleeping extra causing other symptoms to flare up. if you can't sleep enough due to pain, or nightmares, or psychosis, or bipolar, or depression. if you sleep way too much and find it hard to stay awake. if you can't fall or stay asleep. if you need medication in order to be able to sleep. if you don't feel rested from sleep. if you wake up a lot in the night. if you have bladder or bowel accidents while asleep. if you twitch or convulse or move too or get injured in your sleep. if you can't control your sleep schedule no matter what. if you can't sleep during "normal" sleeping hours. if you can't sleep for 8+ hours straight but can sleep for shorter amounts of time. if sleep is what you need but for one reason or another you just can't or refuse to do it.

i care about you. your disabilities deserve to be seen and acknowledged

[eggings]

happy disability pride month to anyone who has a disability from a condition that “usually isn’t a disability”. happy disability pride month to people with disabilities that aren’t often understood by able-bodied people. happy disability pride month to people who don’t have any official diagnosis yet. happy disability to people whose “labs look completely fine”. wishing you peace this july.

[mindblowingscience]

There's a problem for the roughly 1 in 10 people who regularly work night shifts, according to a new study: more than half of them have likely developed some kind of sleep disorder, such as insomnia. A team of researchers from the Netherlands and Belgium collected work and sleep data from 37,662 individuals, splitting them into groups based on their day or night work schedule. Six common sleep disorder categories were screened for in the surveys: insomnia, hypersomnia (excessive daytime sleepiness), parasomnia (abnormal movements or dreams), sleep-related breathing disorders, sleep-related movement disorders, and circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders.

Continue Reading.

[ladyshivs]

The options are spread into 3 hour blocks to fit within the ten answer limit.

If your time is *exactly* on the hour where I’ve split an option: go with your Heart.

If you suffer from insomnia: I’m sorry. Please pick the time that you associate with being the most tired.

[redd956]

Sleep Disorders & Dreams References I Refer To

@mmaurysiek was curios about some of the refences I have on nightmares, dreams, and lucid dreaming. I decided to make a post including some of my favorite here.

Nightmare Disorder

Nightmare Disorder is a parasomnia, which is a type of sleeping disorder that disrupts your sleep or make your sleep restless through unconscious activity.

The interesting thing about parasomnias is you have one at a severe rate, it's only a matter of time before you end up developing more via sleep deprivation. This is what makes major parasomnias like Nightmare Disorder and Sleep Terrors so painful. It just becomes a cycle.

Some important factors about Nightmare Disorder the needs to be known is-

There are variants

There are many origins, but the full idea of how Nightmare Disorder happens is unknown

Not everyone has Nightmare Disorder forever, but some do

Now to my links

This is a really good link that goes in to the variety of Nightmare Disorder and more modern up to date information we have about the disorder.

This next link goes specifically into how PTSD induced nightmares work. It's important to understand that the categorization of dreams themselves is complex. Someone can have nightmare disorder, and not always have PTSD nightmares.

A final link on Nightmare Disorder that I'll give is a scholarly article, which is of course tedious to read through, but if anyone is into that stuff here it is...

Lucid Dreaming

When it comes to lucid dreaming I remember one of my favorite Youtubers has an amazing video on it

What is lucid dreaming? It's a type of dreaming where the dreamer is somewhat self aware they're sleeping, and gain control of the dream.

Lucid dreaming is both a little more complicated and a little more simple than we can understand. The science of dreams is still mostly unknown. We have a plethora of theories about how they work, spirituality behind them, and especially why the hell we dream in the first place.

The existence of lucid dreams makes things a little bit more complicated.

Lucid Dreams come in many variations. By what we understand right now, not everyone is even capable of achieving the most stereotypical lucid dream, like me. The weirdest part about lucid dreams, it's trainable, like learning how to whistle.

Health benefits and cautions comes with lucid dreams.

Vivid Dreams

Oh vivid dreams, often times interesting and bizarre, and upsetting when dressed up as nightmares. It isn't actually regular to have frequent vivid dreams, but it is normal to see them occasionally. Don't worry if you do get them very often, they're only a worry if they're interrupting your sleep or daytime mood.

I would include more parasomnias and sleep disorders in this post, but I'll probs do them in a future posts

[rosesandthorns44]

Idiopathic Hypersomnia Life Hacks I Am Currently Field Testing:

Putting my shoes on and not taking them off so I can't get back in bed or lie down on the couch. (Roommate's genius suggestion I wish I had thought of. I don't like wearing my street shoes in the home, so perhaps I need separate indoor anti-sleepytime shoes. I'm not a crocs kind of gal, but perhaps just for at home)

Washing my bedding on my days off from work so my blankets cannot beckon me with their siren song (also, I get horrible night sweats. I wake up DRENCHED, so my bedding needs the extra washing anyway. Anyone else with IH or Narcolepsy have this???)

Not sitting down to watch TV or play video games unless I have finished my to-do list first.

Post-it notes everywhere. For everything. I wouldn't even remember to brush my own teeth if I hadn't put a post-it note on my bathroom mirror

Other Hypersomniacs of any breed, please feel free to add your tips and tricks.

[ludwigoat909]

If you ever decide to make an all nighter because you weren't productive in the slightest

DON'T!!!!!

GO TO SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I PROMISE YOU that THIS IS WHY YOU AREN'T BEING FUCKING PRODUCTIVE It's not even science bro IT'S PURE LOGIC! How the fuck are you gonna be productive and do what you want to do when you're tired

ESPECIALLY if you have ADHD omg PLEASE. I KNOW that you feel bad cause you didn't work but IT'S NOT YOUR FUCKING FAULT OK!!! ADHD SUCK!!! It's FUCKING HARD to try and stay foccus when you can't help but feel the urge to be stimulate!! And I KNOW from both experience AND from therapy that lack of sleep makes ADHD EVEN WORSE! And be fr, if ur like me, by putting an all nighter, what you're really doing is do 1% on the work because you keep being distracted by looking at cat vids on youtube (I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE). If you have trouble going to sleep take melatonine, (or drink coffee or tea since it has the opposite effect for those with adhd) SERIOUSLY lack of sleep is the MIND KILLER!!! DON'T LET THE SHITTY PRO-CAPATILIST "SIGMA" STRUGGLER GRINDSET CONVINCE YOU OTHER WISE!!!!!

[thedisablednaturalist]

Happy disability pride to people with sleep disorders!

To people with chronic insomnia, to people with bad anxiety, fellow adhders, to chronic pain havers, to anyone who has trouble falling asleep!

To people who sleep too much, who are always tired, either due to chronic illness or depression.

Big shout out to people with sleep apnea (hi!) Who:

- are young and hate that CPAP is seen as an old people thing

- who are worried how potential partners will view them for using CPAP

- who are worried that they'll be made fun of by peers if they found out

- who hate that CPAP is always used as a punchline in comedy

- who are STILL waiting for a CPAP machine (or replacement) after that huge recall

- who struggle with using their machine comfortably and can't/don't want to get that implant thing

And here's to anyone who can't afford a sleep study (or studies, usually they do more than one)

Lack of quality sleep can ABSOLUTELY be disabling. It's a time when your body heals and restores itself. It's when your brain processes everything that's happened and retains memories. If you are able, please schedule a sleep study with a specialist (neurologist or other) it can change your life!!!

[aeimygdala]

having a grand ol time reading about narcolepsy for sources (i have type 2)

Narcolepsy does not cause serious or long-term physical health problems, but it can have a significant impact on daily life and be difficult to cope with emotionally- via https://www.nhs.uk

i think every health source that peddles this should be shut down and the doctors should kill themselves and i'm NOT being hyperbolic, this horseshit is fucking deadly

inability to regulate sleep cycles means ALL sleep cycles. it means many of us can't sleep properly at NIGHT. sleep is one of THE main needs all humans need for our health

due to the abnormal and increased REM duration, narcoleptics are often unable to get the kind of restorative deep sleep that people need to be healthy and live long lives

so what the FUCK do you mean that doesn't have long-term and serious physical health problems. what the FUCK Do you mean, "not being able to properly get restorative sleep doesn't have long term physical health problems" i hope everyone saying that fucking dies i'm so serious they're all so fucking evil this is why public perception of narcolepsy is so FUCKED UP because nobody outside of narcoleptic want to talk about how it can destroy your health and life because you can't EVER sleep properly!! it's not just "falling asleep during the day" it's ALL YOUR SLEEP IS FUCKED!!! this makes me so FUCKING ANGRY. i wish people gave a shit about the symptoms of narcolepsy that aren't so outwardly "unproductive" because they don't fucking care that we're living hellish lives of no rest!! the first line treatments is JUST STIMULANTS to keep you awake, no treatment for the sleep issues at night!!! the treatments to help you sleep at night are hyper-regulated and crazy expensive bc the company gets its money off of thousand dollar insurance payouts!! and they can have severe mental health side effects for a lot of people, like uhhh ME, and there's no other option!!! i'm going to fucking SCREAM!!! why do people only care about the current visible symptoms that make people unproductive members of society and not the long term health impacts!!!

[thesolarangel]

It's the first day in months that I feel like I'm at 100% again. It's the 2nd week of my 3 week sick leave from work, I slept in and I woke up without a headache or neck pain.

I feel like myself again 🥰

I've been going on long walks every day, I talk to my friends and my sibling about everything, I go to therapy weekly, I got the much needed distance from my employer. I get as much as sleep as I need.

I don't wanna think about going back...

[whitecatcrime]

guys. on top of the narcolepsy, i apparently now have mild rem-onset SLEEP APNEA. the universe was like, "you're (SOMEHOW) not sleepy enough already" and gave me TWO SLEEP DISORDERS. what kind of curse is this.

[katthekonqueror]

So I found out today that if you have ADHD, you're also fourteen times more likely to develop Restless Leg Syndrome. The latter has a tendency to strike during your thirties.

So if you have a tingling or tickling sensation in your legs or feet, have jerking in your legs or feet, or have extreme discomfort in your legs or feet that is alleviated by moving them, you may have RLS. Especially if the symptoms are worse at night or when you're trying to rest.

If you've ever had a hypnic jerk, that's exactly what it feels like to me. The big difference is that it's now incessant, whereas before I only had those every now and then.

[redd956]

Nightmares cause sleep deprivation which causes insomnia which causes sleep deprivation which causes nightmares which causes-

[this-is-where-i-hide-my-bullshit]

When I was describing to my therapist how my usual method of falling asleep is to turn my brain into "thought soup" by letting my conscious thoughts unravel and pull themselves apart until I'm not intentionally thinking anything and just letting my brain form basically nonsensical blobs of images and sounds that eventually became almost like half awake hallucinations that then turn into dreams, my therapist's response was basically "you have a surprising amount of understanding and control over your brain."

And like, not really. The point is giving up control completely and letting yourself melt until you're no longer aware of yourself at all. Sometimes it backfires and you end up fading into a void of nothing where you aren't aware of anything, no sights or sounds or physical sensations, no thoughts or feelings, it's almost like you don't exist at all, and when you eventually come back to yourself and open your eyes you realize that you haven't actually slept at all, and somehow 6-12 hours have passed while you were in that state, and you are STILL EXHAUSTED.

And she said that isn't normal and that no, most people don't experience that when trying to go to sleep.

Do other people just shut their eyes and sleep just happens???

[razzek]

For my fellow night owls and people who struggle to sleep. :)