I suffer from a profound circadian rhythm disorder. It is ancillary to my other mental issues, and it began to develop when I was a teenager. I recall late nights of sneaking into a dry bathtub to read, and also a cupful of cold water in the face, from my frustrated father, trying to get me to high school on time.
One thing that made a night-and-day difference, if you will, was diet. I often blamed my bipolar or my pills on my unruly sleep schedule. But when I stopped eating bad food from restaurants, and I was mostly making stuff in my own kitchen, with fresh ingredients and fruits and vegetables, I could spontaneously wake up with the sunrise, no alarm, every day. It was not fun, because I was also losing weight and my stomach always demanded immediate attention, no matter how many dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. But as far as circadian rhythm, that puppy fell right into line for as long as I stuck carefully to such a diet.
That discipline ultimately falls apart every time, sadly. I am relatively powerless to deal with my lousy diet. But coming around to the diabetes diagnosis, I will also issue warning bells to the younger ADHD and night owls. Watch your blood sugar.
My blood glucose and insulin levels appear closely related to my drowsy/waking moods, and also to my troublesome bouts of anger and rage. Two types of [synthetic modern] insulin proved to be an amazing miracle in terms of calming down, having good sleep, and banishing nightmares and terrors.
My erstwhile psychiatrist was a forensic one, and she would fret about "blue light at night" but I doubled down on that danger to propose that having Internet disputes and arguments turning into rage and screaming? Perhaps that was detrimental to my sleeping and dreaming?
Therefore, I propose this to anyone who struggles with circadian rhythm: rather than letting physicians tweek you (or your young children) out of your minds, consider your diet, blood glucose, and all the other "sleep hygiene" factors. Really do an inventory of the fundamentals before you resort to drugs. It could save your life.
One thing that made a night-and-day difference, if you will, was diet. I often blamed my bipolar or my pills on my unruly sleep schedule. But when I stopped eating bad food from restaurants, and I was mostly making stuff in my own kitchen, with fresh ingredients and fruits and vegetables, I could spontaneously wake up with the sunrise, no alarm, every day. It was not fun, because I was also losing weight and my stomach always demanded immediate attention, no matter how many dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. But as far as circadian rhythm, that puppy fell right into line for as long as I stuck carefully to such a diet.
That discipline ultimately falls apart every time, sadly. I am relatively powerless to deal with my lousy diet. But coming around to the diabetes diagnosis, I will also issue warning bells to the younger ADHD and night owls. Watch your blood sugar.
My blood glucose and insulin levels appear closely related to my drowsy/waking moods, and also to my troublesome bouts of anger and rage. Two types of [synthetic modern] insulin proved to be an amazing miracle in terms of calming down, having good sleep, and banishing nightmares and terrors.
My erstwhile psychiatrist was a forensic one, and she would fret about "blue light at night" but I doubled down on that danger to propose that having Internet disputes and arguments turning into rage and screaming? Perhaps that was detrimental to my sleeping and dreaming?
Therefore, I propose this to anyone who struggles with circadian rhythm: rather than letting physicians tweek you (or your young children) out of your minds, consider your diet, blood glucose, and all the other "sleep hygiene" factors. Really do an inventory of the fundamentals before you resort to drugs. It could save your life.