Okay, let's start this hypersomnia thread!

[note - I am not looking for unsolicited advice.]

Idiopathic hypersomnia or narcolepsy (not the same, but similar) is very hard to describe to people.

When I say "I slept 10 hours last night and I'm still tired" I'm not bragging. 1/16

For me, the accommodations I need are about time. My body doesn't care what I want to do - when I want to wake up or be asleep. My body wants to wake up at 10-11am, and go to sleep at 3am, always.

Just a one hour shift in my sleep schedule can screw me up for days. 2/16
When I tell people that I'd really "prefer it" if we could meet at 10am or later, it's because getting up before that has consequences for me. Big consequences. Most people won't see them. Sometimes I still give in and say it's fine. It ruins 2-3 of my days, sometimes more. 3/16
Let me explain. When I am required to wake up at 9am, esp. in covid times working from home, my body pays me back for it later.

I'm going to show you ways this happens. I can usually withstand 1 day of waking up early, with some consequences, but 2 days in a row kills me. 4/16
Let's say this graph represents Day 1, the first time I am required to get up early. The y-axis is my level of Sleepiness. Any symptom listed higher up includes that symptom + every other symptom below it. Getting up that early means I can't listen or concentrate all day. 5/16
Now there are 2 options for Day 2. Let's call this option Day 2A.

This is when I can sleep in until 11am because I do not have an event the next day. My body is not happy because of my switch in sleep cycles. It's not great, but it's not completely terrible. 6/16
Note that the "forces eyes open" and "sleep attack" tick marks really should be a lot higher than the other categories of sleepiness. Going into those categories is another level of horrible. It's like my brain is addicted to sleep in those moments. 7/16
And I can fight it all I want, but it's not up to me. My body just craves sleep. It doesn't matter if I don't want to fall asleep. And it's not going to be good sleep either, it's going to be hallucinations and half-sleep. 8/16
So here's what Day 2B looks like, when I have to have 2 days in a row that require me to wake up at 9am. This is what the 2nd day would look like for me. Significantly worse, sleep attack included. 9/16
When someone asks me "Hey there's really no good time to schedule this, can we go ahead and move it to [time before 10am]?" this is what I have to think about. And if I say "no" then I may be seen as rude or selfish. 10/16
Having a meeting or event before 10am for me, means giving up an entire day, possibly 2 or 3 days, of feeling okay and possibly being productive. I have a meeting this term that I can't move, and it means my entire weekend is essentially my body leveling out my sleep. 11/16
And sometimes this is why I end up working between 10pm and 2am, because I know I'll be awake, no matter what, for no particular reason. It doesn't matter when I go to bed or when I wake up, that's when I'll be most awake. 12/16
If I give in to that work pattern though, my sleep schedule gets worse and it makes it even harder to wake up in the morning. It means that even later meetings (10-11am meetings), or anything during the day, can be more of a struggle. It's a constant balancing act. 13/16
So when someone asks you to be flexible about meeting times, or to have meetings later (or earlier) due to their sleep issues, please just realize that for some of us, we don't control our attentiveness/sleepiness/sleep schedule in our lives. And it's a struggle. 14/16
So even if you don't want to, even if it's hard to schedule, please just remember what we're giving up when you say that you're too busy or that there's no other time. And I'm not saying it's possible to accommodate us 100% all the time. 15/16
But please just acknowledge that it's hard and that we often sacrifice a lot of ourselves to literally just -be there.- Please recognize that sometimes we are only going to be able to just be there, and that is absolutely enough.

If you can, please accommodate us. 16/16

More from Health

🚨Important changes to lockdown/self-isolation regulations from 5pm

The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (All Tiers and Self-Isolation) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2021

£800 'house party' FPN & police can now access track & trace data

https://t.co/k9XCpVsXhC


“Large gathering offence”

As trailed by Home Secretary last week there is now a fixed penalty notice of £800 (or £400 if you pay within 14 days) for participating in an gathering of over 15 people in a private residence


Fixed Penalty Notices double for each subsequent “large gathering offence” up to £6,400

Compare:
- Ordinary fixed penalty notice is £200 or £100 if paid in 14 days
- Holding or being involved in the holding of a gathering of over 30 people is £10,000


Second big change:

Since September has been a legal requirement to sell-isolate if you test positive/notified by Track & Trace of exposure to someone else who tested positive

Police can now be given access to NHS Track & Trace data if for the purpose of enforcement/prosecution


This will make it easier for police to enforce people breaking self-isolation rules. Currently there has been practically no enforcement.

Data says only a small proportion of people meant to be self-isolating are fully doing so.
Now you know I love to sh-t in Harvard. But I also like accuracy. So I decided to go look at Harvard’s catalog to see its lack of military history that this article describes (they only teach history of pets it claims) and what I found shocked me! Shocked me! A thread: 1/


First off, Harvard students literally have multiple sections of military history that they can take listed. (It appears these ones are taught at MIT, so they might have to walk down the street for these) but... 2/


Say they want to stay on campus...they can only take numerous classes on war and diplomacy...3/


They have an entire class on Yalta. That’s right. An entire class on Yalta. 4/


But wait! There is more! They can take the British Empire, The Fall of the Roman Empire for those wanting traditional topics... 5/

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