Non 2 24 4 Hour Sleep-Wake Disorder

What is it?

N24 is a rare circadian rhythm sleep disorder that affects ones internal 24-Hour clock. People with N24 tend to have a sleep rhythm that is longer than 24 hours, this causes their sleep cycle to gradually rotate around the clock by an hour or so each day.
Attempting to fight their natural cycle results in severe sleep deprivation quite quickly, which makes it very difficult to live a normal life. There is no "cure", however there are ways to make things easier, such as light therapy & melatonin.

My Experience

Diagnosed : 27/01/2023

I first started showing symptoms when I was around my early teens, but my theory was due to my mental health in school it developed further and eventually into N24.

I had no idea what N24 was until I saw a video on TikTok that was a "Day in the life of someone with N24" and It was like something clicked, I saw me, I was in that video. I immediately started doing boatloads of research and finally discovered that what I had been struggling with wasn't just due to being bad at keeping schedules.

The phone call with the sleep specialist was a short one, becuase I had been tracking my sleep since I learned this information, he told me what I already knew without me even suggesting it.

Since I started tracking it I usually just "freerun" my sleep, meaning I dont attempt to push past certain cycles when they come along. It's a lot better on my mental health, but I still struggle a lot when my Night Cycle is longer than expected becuase I miss out on so much.

I have made peace with my disorder and find new ways to make things easier on me often. The r/N24 subreddit is the most relatable and comforting community I have seen, seeing other people who truly understand the struggles is really nice.

Awareness for things like this is super important, understanding and support is the best thing you can do if a loved one has N24. I have missed out on a lot of activities with friends and family because of this and I often feel guilty, But both they and I know I cant help it.

Thank you for reading this! I hope I could educate you a bit

WIP !! (Resources and Advice tabs have content!)

r/N24 Reddit Community

The Reddit community was the first place I found when I was looking up N24, It's full of like minded people who give nothing but support and understanding. I find it extremely comforting being able to relate to a suportive community like this.

If you are having any struggles, folks over there will definitely offer some help. The pinned post has a lot of useful FAQs and extra resources I may have missed!

The National Organization for Rare Diseases

N24 as mentioned is quite rare in sighted people, This page has a lot of very helpful information on symptoms and diagnosis requirements. It's a good read if you are wanting to look into getting medically diagnosed.

Circadian Sleep Disorders Network

This site has a very helpful Q&A style page that can be really useful towards understanding this disorder as an outside perspective.

My Excel Sleep Tracker Template

To edit a copy of your own, click the green button in the top right that says "Edit a copy".

If anyone reading this is more proficient in Excel and can automate some of the things here, it would be an amazing help!

From left to right the collumns mean as such;

Day --> Day | What day you slept, for example, if I went to sleep on Wednesday but woke up Thursday morning, It would state "Wed -> Thu". If I slept Wednesday morning and woke up on Wednesday evening, It would state "Wed -> Wed" etc.
Date | The date you fell asleep on

When Bed | The time you went to bed/fell asleep

Wake Up | The time you woke up

Time Slept | The amount of time you slept

Cycle Class | Above the red titles, There is a timeline of times. I have colour coded them for what times I *personally* class my sleep cycle as. Feel free to change the colours to fit your lifestyle better! I usually have my cycles classed as; Day Cycle, Mid Cycle (Day to Night), Night Cycle, Mid Cycle (Night to Day). Night cycle being awake at night, Day being away during the day.

Notes | Any notes you might have on the day, I usually put a reason If I was forcably woken up or I use it to track naps.

Dream? | Y / N whether I dreamt or not

.txt File | A space to link a file explaining your dream

Quality | Sleep Quality, I have 5 presets next to the timeline that I personally use

The section next to the data is a visualisation of the sleep, It goes in increments of 30 minutes, starting at 00:00, ending at 23:30. Fill out the squares where you were asleep! Make sure to go to the next line if you slept through midnight.

Obviously you can use or edit this however you please, this is just a blank copy of my one as per request of someone on Reddit! I plan to make a new one soon, and will update with a second link if its different enough <3

Advice as someone Clinically Diagnosed:

(Keep in mind, I am no professional!!! This is based off of personal experience. Do your own research and dont make any final descisions just from this page alone)

If you are currently suspecting you have a CRD (Circadian Rhythm Disorder), the best thing you can do is immediately start tracking your sleep. There are a lot of sleep trackers online that work for different people, I have an Excel spreadsheet that I made for my own personal tracker that I found people wanting. I will go into detail on how to use it on the "Resources" Tab!

Having even just a few weeks of data really helps any doctors/specialists pin down any issues. I had around 1 Month of data when I got my call from the sleep specialist, He immediately agreed with me that it was N24 after hearing me explain the chart (I sent him a copy afterwards, before I got my diagnosis letter).

Some things that may seem easy will seem really hard, especially if you are young. My parents make sure there are ready-meals in the freezer when Im on my night cycle and struggle cooking for myself, It's little things like that which will make being in your night cycle a bit easier on you.

I am in the lucky place where I can freerun most of the time, but there are things that can stabilize the messy pattern out there. Talk to your doctor about solutions and what works for you personally! I hope I could help out!