non-24-hour sleep pattern

Does anyone else here have this? It is when my sleep is later everyday (about 24.7 hour days) and I end up going "around the clock". I can stick to a 24 hour day in summer, presumabably because there is more light. A lightbox has helped though it isn't perfect. I also tried melatonin, which helped a bit but I found it unpleasant.

Hey tinted, have you spoke to your GP about this? Cause if you think you have an irregular body clock he can send you to a sleep clinic, they monitor you whilst your a sleep and can calculate your body clock cycle.

Joeybear

I also sleep longer and better in summer than in winter. Do you have SAD? I thought people with SAD slept more in winter, but I don't know much about it.

tinted

I thought most humans had a body clock that is longer than 24 hours, but is brought into line by daily adjustments such as light. So mine is not unusual, it's just that I'm not very responsive to light at the levels we get in the UK in winter. The length I gave for myself of 24.7 hours is a bit longer than the normal given figure, but I do receive some light which could affect it. Other species have endogenous clocks that are shorter or longer than 24 hours, and also make daily adjustments.

Evolutionarily it does make sense, because the rotation of the earth around the sun is not exactly 24 hours, it can vary about 15minutes either side of this (depending where you are I think). If all creatures had constant 24 hours clocks they would get out of synch with the solar day, so the best thing is to have a clock that is roughly right but can be adjusted easily to meet the current daylength.

tinted

Hi

Yes I have a dawn simulator and it does help. No effect alone, but if I use it as well as the lightbox I get a better result than the lightbox alone. It's funny that the increasing light is usually enough to wake me up before the sound alarm goes off. I also like the way the light gently dims as I fall asleep.

tinted

Hi Tinted

Yes, Dawn Simulator and a Satellite lightbox are my fixes. But just as importantly I find keeping a steady routine of getting up at a regular time and going to bed at an equally regular time force my bodyclock into conforming. So any minor fluctuations my internal clock is having are overridden on a daily basis, therefore they cannot accumulate and cause a problem. Napping is lethal and I avoid it at all costs.

Life is a challenge is it not! All good things Tinted. Julie