http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/blind-people-often-find-it-hard-to-align-their-sleep-wake-cycle-with-24-hour-day/2012/08/06/5578f090-bb0d-11e1-abd4-aecc81b4466d_story.html
This article in the Washington Post by Alyssa A. Botelho, discusses how some people suffer from what is called "non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder". This is commonly referred to as "non-24". This disorder is not well known and has to do with people that run on a body clock that is not aligned with a 24 hour day. This disorder is most commonly occurs with people that are blind, however the article says that this can occur with people with normal vision. The article talks about Melanie Brunson, who has been blind since birth and has had sleeping problems her whole life. An incident in 2005 occurred when she was walking home from work. She was waiting to cross the street when she suddenly fell asleep. When she woke she was still unable to fully hear cars to determine when it was okay to cross the street. Brunson is not the only blind person in the United States that suffers from "non-24". It is estimated that up to 70% of blind people can suffer from this disorder. Dr. Steven W. Lockley, a Harvard neuroscientist studied Brunson and determined that her body ran on a cycle longer than 24 hours. Lockley said how people with normal sight have light-sensing cells in their eyes that tell the brain when it is daytime and their clock is reset this way. Blind people are unable to do this. This is interesting because to me because I did not realize how much daylight affected the sleep cycle. It would be interesting to research if there could be another way for the body to realize when it was light or to reschedule your body on a normal 24 hour cycle. It is scary to think of how Brunson could have been seriously hurt because of this disorder. If their is further research to be done to try and cure or help then it should be invested in. This is relevant to class because we have discussed vision and soon to discuss sleep and consciousness. It will be interesting if any of my questions to this is answered in today's lecture about this subject.
This is a really interesting article and overall topic. The thing that intrigues me the most is that up to 70% of blind people can suffer from this horrible disorder. I know I have never witnessed a blind person falling asleep in public, but I am sure many others have. After reading about the example of the lady falling asleep on the sidewalk, it really opens your eyes (no pun intended) to how scary this disorder can really be. This is especially scary for blind people because they are unaware of when they might unwillingly fall asleep. They can't plan their time around it, and have no way of knowing when it might occur. I would like to know more about this disorder in people with normal vision. Do you think this disorder can be confused with narcolepsy? This disorder has some of the same side effects, such as frequent daytime falling asleep attacks. If people with normal vision can detect when it is daytime and when it is night, then how can they be affected by this?
ReplyDeleteFor blind people suffering from "non-24 hour sleep-wake disorder," I can see how this disorder could be very dangerous to them in everyday situations. In addition to the danger factor, I can only imagine the level of problems this can cause in a blind or even non-blind person's everyday life. I feel that suffering from non-24 could be very devastating to many other aspects of ones life such as having/caring for ones family or performing everyday tasks such as driving a car or going to the store. I can imagine what some of difficulties would be for a blind person suffering from this disease, but am curious to learn more about how it can affect people who are not blind. What are some of their everyday struggles in living with non-24? Are there any treatments that can improve or cure the disorder?
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense that most blind people are affected by this disorder. Without light awareness, the brain is not cued to reset the circadian rhythm that guides many of the body’s functions. I wonder how dramatic some cases are and what’s the longest schedule that’s been documented because having your sleep and wake cycles pushed back 1 or 2 hours every day can be a major hindrance. An unbalanced sleep schedule can make it very difficult to maintain a job or go to school. It would really have a negative effect on daily life. I feel like some of the treatments would be trying to target changes in your routine to try to reset your circadian rhythm. For example, maybe the people who aren’t blind, but have this disorder have bad sleeping habits or poor exposure to sunlight on a consistent basis? Or maybe it’s neurological? Melatonin helps regulate the sleep and wake cycle, so it would be interesting to find out if there’s a correlation between the two or if some sort of melatonin supplement could be used as treatment to help induce drowsiness. I wonder if the quality of sleep is affected or not?
ReplyDeleteAmazing. I didn't see this post before class today! What a relevant article.
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