hello from delayed sleep phase disorder land https://twitter.com/kept_simple/status/1259365956486410242

every so often people send me a pop science article going "people with your condition die earlier!!" and it's nice to be thought of

about twelve years ago, i used to drink much heavier, hitting the pub after work to tire myself out

i would get seven hours of sleep on monday, and one less each night until friday, where i'd stay up till 8am, sleep through saturday to catch up, and fuck myself over for monday

back then i'd regularly end up awake at 7 or 8am, stressed, wondering if it was worth catching even an hour of sleep, or just lumbering into work early and hoping for the best

it's no real surprise that most of my jobs lasted about a year or so before i broke down entirely

right now it's been about two months or so since i've slept for more than 3 or 4 hours, unbroken

today i slept from 7am-9am, 11-1pm and 7pm-11pm. i feel awful

thankfully i'm in a job that doesn't punish me further for being broken, why i've lasted a whole two years

sometimes sleep deprivation cancels out some of the adhd and i slip into a focus state after about eighteen hours awake

anyway, click the "show the day of week" option in your taskbar clock, it will help

i used to joke "i never get jetlag!", as I'd arrive in sf, awake for 24 hours, and would happily keep going for another eight

took me a while to realise, i've been jetlagged for about a decade, constantly trying to work out where my body clock is this week

anyway, 4am-12pm is one of my favourite sleep cycles. not up too late, not completely out of sync with the diurnal people.

9pm-5am comes a close second. it's real nice to have a head start on everyone else, taking the morning at a slow pace

ps being polyphasic is totally overrated. no real satisfying slumber, and you never quite feel like the day is over—just constant six or eight hour bursts

twenty-eight hour cycles are actually quite nice by comparison, except for the whole rolling in and out of sync bit

people will often say in a medium post how ruining (i.e. 'hacking') their circadian rhythm makes them more productive

these are the same people who jerk off at their desk and count it towards their work day, ignore them

and one final note: if you wake up feeling tired after more than eight hours of sleep, you're still sleep deprived

you can't miss four hours one night and add four the next, it just doesn't work

the most useful advice i can give you is not to fight your body clock, sleep when you're tired, if you can

but it took me most of my career to find a job where i was allowed to sleep, so it's not great advice