Everything is a Damn "Disorder" or "Syndrome" Now

[mbarrick]

Hey there, gothy people. Early mornings the bane of your existence? Have trouble forcing yourself to bed before 2 a.m.? No longer are you simply a "night owl"... Now you can be one the tragically hip with your very own post-Modern "syndrome" complete with snappy 4-letter acronym: DSPS. Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome.

http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/delayed.html
http://www.sleepfoundation.org/publications/sma2.3.cfm#2
http://www.sleepdisorderchannel.net/dsps/
http://sleepdisorders.about.com/cs/dsps/a/nightowl.htm
http://www.about-sleep-disorders.com/html/delayed-sleep-phase-syndrome.php3

Having "suffered" from this "syndrome" my whole life I can tell you that it isn't "caused" during adolescence any more than people "turn gay" in their teens. About 1 in 15 people have this "disorder" -- only it is not a disorder, it is a specalized social function. The articles above talk about the difficulty people with DSPS have operating within "societal norms". Right-- because they aren't supposed to. All social species have specialized groups for specific functions. The purpose and function of "night people" seems pretty obivious to me: night people tell the bedtime stories to the rest of the tribe, we watch the fire and keep the wolves at bay, we paint the magical animals in the dark end of the cave for the shamen. Night people perform the mystery plays after dark. Night people are the artists, storytellers, bonfire-builders, festival organizers, and night-watch. The "normal" people depend on the night people for the entertainment and magic that creates the cultural glue that keeps the tribe together, and they depend on the night people to watch over them while they sleep.

Comments

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

When? Damnit! When?!

I've been dragging my ass out of bed between 6 and 7 a.m. for my job now for the last three years and I'm still not getting used to it. My body clock just isn't in the same time-zone. Actually, even if I *change* time-zones to my advantage, in a day or two it wears off and mornings are hell again.

re: when? Damnit! When?!

[bdallaway.livejournal.com]

I've been at my 9-5 for 10 years and still can't get up before 10:30am on days off. I just can't get to sleep before midnight. Even if I crawl into bed at 11:30 I still wind up reading until 1am. Then I sleep in and am late, but good thing the bosses here are really easygoing.