5 ms·

Huh, I always woundered why I live a 28-30 hour day. My sleep schedule continuously drifts as a result - luckily I live a lifestyle where it's possible to get a

by bArray 7y ago

Huh, I always woundered why I live a 28-30 hour day. My sleep schedule continuously drifts as a result - luckily I live a lifestyle where it's possible to get away with this. I did used to do a 9-to-5, but what ended up happening was that I slept less and struggled to keep in control over the weekends. Luckily the people I live with would wake me up (just by carrying out their own routines). These days I typically sleep ~4 hours a night to keep some osrt of schedule. As others have mentioned, diet, exercise, etc, etc, no change seems to break this habit. To the surprise of many, I am also able to remain productive for all but a few of the last hours - some days I have commit streaks spanning something like 18 hours.

zarmin 7y ago
Out of curiosity, do you have ADHD?
- save_ferris 7y ago
  I’ve struggled the exact same as the poster above, and I’ve been reading up on ADHD. It seems to fit so many issues I have, but I really don’t want to take stimulants, which seem to be the drug of choice for ADHD
  - zarmin 7y ago
    Yeah, I think there's a large subset of people with ADHD who have some kind of alternate circadian rhythm. Mine seems to be 36 hours; for almost 35 years my peak working hours have been 4pm to 5am, with the ability to hyperfocus until I collapsed if I'm really into what I'm doing. Not for lack of trying to have a "normal" schedule...oh god I try really hard multiple times a year. It's just not natural. You should know that stimulants are only one type of approach for treating ADHD. Your best resource, you may have discovered, is Russell Barkley; I cannot recommend him enough. Also check out the YouTube channel How to ADHD. Some relevant Barkley videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnS0PfNyj4U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnS0PfNyj4U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzhbAK1pdPM&list=PLzBixSjmbc8eFl6UX5_wWGP8i0mAs-cvY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzhbAK1pdPM&list=PLzBixSjmbc... Fair warning: You may discover some of the things you've done for your whole life without second guessing are actually typical ADHD symptoms. And if you're like me, this might thoroughly shake your snowglobe.
  - follower 7y ago
    > [...] I’ve been reading up on ADHD. It seems to fit so many issues I have [...] If you're feeling like that I strongly recommend that you consider consulting a competent medical professional with experience diagnosing ADHD/ADD and undergo an evaluation. While your concerns around pharmaceutical-based approaches to assisting people to live with the affects of executive function related disorders (such as ADHD/ADD) are understandable, such decisions are a step beyond where you currently are. ADHD/ADD is known as a disorder where (unlike most) simply having a diagnosis can have a significant positive impact on a person's ability to deal with it. This is in part because a diagnosis provides a new lens/perspective through which to view one's life and because the negative secondary effects (e.g. shame, guilt, depression, interpersonal & employment difficulties) of living with un-diagnosed ADHD/ADD have so much impact. My understanding is that a combination of medication & therapy has been shown to be the most effective tool in helping most people live with the effects of ADHD/ADD but medication is by no means the only option--and there are some non-stimulant options also. But with regard to "stimulants", the word itself & people's understanding of how they work leads to a lot of moralizing, misinformation & misunderstanding. To some degree the effect of a "stimulant medication" is similar to that of water to a house plant: if the plant has insufficient moisture in the surrounding soil then "stimulating" it with additional water from a watering can brings it up to a level of moisture required for a fulfilling life--but if the plant already has sufficient moisture then adding additional water may cause negative effects. But being "underwatered" is not a positive state of affairs. If you would like to read further about ADHD/ADD (particularly the under-diagnosed "Primary Inattentive" subtype) I recommend considering "Driven to Distraction (Revised/Second Edition): Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder" by Edward Hallowell and John Ratey. One of the aspects I particularly appreciate is how much emphasis they put on the importance of a precise & accurate diagnosis as a starting point--e.g. they spend a chapter each on "things that are misdiagnosed as ADHD/ADD but are actually something else" & "things that are misdiagnosed as not ADHD/ADD but are in fact ADHD/ADD". Good luck! Edit: Oh, yeah, two other things: * "Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria" is a common but less discussed aspect of ADHD/ADD. * If comics are more your style, you might find a read of ADHD Alien enlightening: http://adhd-alien.com/ http://adhd-alien.com/
    - save_ferris 7y ago
- bArray 7y ago
  I'm unsure, I certainly show the symptoms, but never got myself diagnosed as I was investigating the possibility of a military career. Thinking about it, quite a few of my family members also have ADHD.
follower 7y ago
> I always wondered why I live a 28-30 hour day. You may wish to look into "Non-24-hour sleep–wake disorder".
- bArray 7y ago
  Woah, thanks for the heads up, I had no idea. I'm relatively lucky (at least so far) not to suffer effects of sleep deprivation. (I was looking here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-24-hour_sleep%E2%80%93wake_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-24-hour_sleep%E2%80%93wake... )

by bArray 7y ago

zarmin 7y ago

Out of curiosity, do you have ADHD?

save_ferris 7y ago
I’ve struggled the exact same as the poster above, and I’ve been reading up on ADHD. It seems to fit so many issues I have, but I really don’t want to take stimulants, which seem to be the drug of choice for ADHD
- zarmin 7y ago
  Yeah, I think there's a large subset of people with ADHD who have some kind of alternate circadian rhythm. Mine seems to be 36 hours; for almost 35 years my peak working hours have been 4pm to 5am, with the ability to hyperfocus until I collapsed if I'm really into what I'm doing. Not for lack of trying to have a "normal" schedule...oh god I try really hard multiple times a year. It's just not natural. You should know that stimulants are only one type of approach for treating ADHD. Your best resource, you may have discovered, is Russell Barkley; I cannot recommend him enough. Also check out the YouTube channel How to ADHD. Some relevant Barkley videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnS0PfNyj4U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnS0PfNyj4U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzhbAK1pdPM&list=PLzBixSjmbc8eFl6UX5_wWGP8i0mAs-cvY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzhbAK1pdPM&list=PLzBixSjmbc... Fair warning: You may discover some of the things you've done for your whole life without second guessing are actually typical ADHD symptoms. And if you're like me, this might thoroughly shake your snowglobe.
- follower 7y ago
  > [...] I’ve been reading up on ADHD. It seems to fit so many issues I have [...] If you're feeling like that I strongly recommend that you consider consulting a competent medical professional with experience diagnosing ADHD/ADD and undergo an evaluation. While your concerns around pharmaceutical-based approaches to assisting people to live with the affects of executive function related disorders (such as ADHD/ADD) are understandable, such decisions are a step beyond where you currently are. ADHD/ADD is known as a disorder where (unlike most) simply having a diagnosis can have a significant positive impact on a person's ability to deal with it. This is in part because a diagnosis provides a new lens/perspective through which to view one's life and because the negative secondary effects (e.g. shame, guilt, depression, interpersonal & employment difficulties) of living with un-diagnosed ADHD/ADD have so much impact. My understanding is that a combination of medication & therapy has been shown to be the most effective tool in helping most people live with the effects of ADHD/ADD but medication is by no means the only option--and there are some non-stimulant options also. But with regard to "stimulants", the word itself & people's understanding of how they work leads to a lot of moralizing, misinformation & misunderstanding. To some degree the effect of a "stimulant medication" is similar to that of water to a house plant: if the plant has insufficient moisture in the surrounding soil then "stimulating" it with additional water from a watering can brings it up to a level of moisture required for a fulfilling life--but if the plant already has sufficient moisture then adding additional water may cause negative effects. But being "underwatered" is not a positive state of affairs. If you would like to read further about ADHD/ADD (particularly the under-diagnosed "Primary Inattentive" subtype) I recommend considering "Driven to Distraction (Revised/Second Edition): Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder" by Edward Hallowell and John Ratey. One of the aspects I particularly appreciate is how much emphasis they put on the importance of a precise & accurate diagnosis as a starting point--e.g. they spend a chapter each on "things that are misdiagnosed as ADHD/ADD but are actually something else" & "things that are misdiagnosed as not ADHD/ADD but are in fact ADHD/ADD". Good luck! Edit: Oh, yeah, two other things: * "Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria" is a common but less discussed aspect of ADHD/ADD. * If comics are more your style, you might find a read of ADHD Alien enlightening: http://adhd-alien.com/ http://adhd-alien.com/
  - save_ferris 7y ago
bArray 7y ago
I'm unsure, I certainly show the symptoms, but never got myself diagnosed as I was investigating the possibility of a military career. Thinking about it, quite a few of my family members also have ADHD.

follower 7y ago

> I always wondered why I live a 28-30 hour day. You may wish to look into "Non-24-hour sleep–wake disorder".

bArray 7y ago
Woah, thanks for the heads up, I had no idea. I'm relatively lucky (at least so far) not to suffer effects of sleep deprivation. (I was looking here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-24-hour_sleep%E2%80%93wake_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-24-hour_sleep%E2%80%93wake... )