I decided to start it on the day where I got zero sleep at all before work, and at the suggestion of my mom, I have a column to compare my work schedule too.
The deep blue represents sleep, with the lighter blue representing about the time I actually went to bed and/or attempted to sleep. On the 5th, I think I started to try to sleep around 12:30 or even 1 AM?? I can’t remember. I have a slot for alcohol but the last time I drank was on the 2nd so that’s not present on the chart. I don’t have a lot of caffeine through the day, as you can see--it’s always just one cup of coffee at some point soon after I wake up, but on the 6th I had a cup of black tea in the evening so I figured that could count.
The bright pink is listed as interruption, which is representative of either 1. someone waking me up, or 2. my alarm going off/waking up and actually getting up. I have white pound signs on the parts where I can remember briefly waking up but going back to sleep soon after, so I don’t really count them as true interruptions, but they’re still wake-up moments. The light green “tired feeling” friend is a little vague, but it’s meant to be representative of moments where I feel like I could probably go to bed with how tired I feel.
On the 7th, I knew that I would have to be getting up early on the 8th (today) so I had set my alarm to go off at 9 AM in hopes I’d be sufficiently tired enough to go to bed to get at least 6 hours of sleep for my 8 AM start time. I got up and pretty much laid back down on the couch for another two hours, very close to falling back asleep, and finally Woke Up For Real in the afternoon.
And then there’s a field for no data, which is where I can’t really remember what I was feeling in that particular hour.
The chart starts at 12 AM midnight, and goes left to right through the early AM and afternoon, finally ending at 11 PM.
I started this because I seriously want to get to the bottom of why my sleep is so fucked up.
If left to it’s own devices, like if I take a month off from work and let it do what it does naturally, it will rotate around the clock. This is very characteristic of Non-24, except that it’s very rare in sighted individuals so I’m hesitant to say that it’s definitely what that is. I suspect it has to be some kind of circadian rhythm disorder or maybe insomnia with how often I’ll wake up in the middle of a sleep cycle. Apparently I’ve had bizarre sleep patterns my whole life, according to my mom, but I don’t really recall anything specific happening until about 2008. Hopefully in time I’ll have enough data on my chart to take to a doctor to get it figured out.
Depression? Probably. I’m like 99% sure I’ve been dealing with major depression for a very long time. Anxiety? Also pretty likely because I’ve had anxiety issues my entire life; they’ve just gotten more specific and trauma/abuse related as time went on. I do have vague and non-traumatic sleep problem memories involving the family that did traumatize me, including frequent wake-ups and odd hours, but my sleep problems were already getting worse around that time. Coincidental timing or another sign of traumatic stress? (SPINS THE WHEEL)
Idea #3: Hormone problems?? Adrenal glands?? IDFK
I don’t really have any evidence for this one but a doctor should probably check it out anyway, just in case. I want to cover my bases.
