Resources for Sighted Non-24

Helpful Sites for Non-24

Circadian Sleep Disorders Network
The Circadian Sleep Disorders Network (CSD-N) is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people with chronic circadian rhythm disorders. Their efforts include advocating for accommodations in education and employment for people with circadian rhythm sleep disorders.

 

Facebook Non-24-Hour Sleep-Wake Disorder Support Group
A group of 1,100+ Non-24 patients and their loved ones. All of the people who operate this Sighted Non-24 site connected here. We recommend it!

 

National Sleep Foundation
A short page describing Non-24 from the National Sleep Foundation.

 

National Organization of Rare Diseases
A collaborative effort between the National Organization of Rare Diseases (NORD) and the Circadian Rhythm Disorders Network and includes information on Sighted Non-24 patients.

 

Non-24 by Vanda Pharmaceuticals
A description of blind Non-24 by Vanda, the makers of Hetlioz.

 

Sleep Education
Another short page describing Non-24 from Sleep Education.

 

WebMD
A more thorough page describing Non-24, causes, diagnosis, and treatment.

 

Non-24 on Wikipedia
A crowd-sourced page about Non-24 broken down by blind and sighted.

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Tools for Non-24

Non-24 Calculator
This calculator is helpful for Non-24 patients with a predictable shift.
Many patients do not have a predictable shift (meaning, the amount of forward shift may change from day to day).

 

Sleep As Android
Sleep tracking for android devices. Costs around $5 including cloud backup; has free options.

 

Pros: Has a free trial and can be used by watching an ad. Many features including gentle alarms, syncs with smart bulbs through IFTTT or Philips Hue, lullabies, sound recording, Spotify and Play Music integration, and more. Integrates with several watches which track heart rate, such as Mi Band, Galaxy Gear, Garmin, etc.

Cons: Free trial is limited and ads are annoying unless you purchase the app. Limited exporting for graphs useful to Non-24 patients. Screenshots are currently the only way to export the graphs. The sleep time does not wrap around correctly on the graph and leaves the borders of the graph. We contacted the makers and they said this would eventually be fixed in an update.

Their website is https://sleep.urbandroid.org/ (the title links to their Google Play store page).

 

Custom Simulated Sunrise for Free-Running

Using Sleep as Android and the Philips Hue smart lightbulb system, it’s possible to wake up to a simulated sunrise by tapping a widget before going to sleep and having a simulated sunrise automatically begin a certain amount of hours after initiating sleep tracking. This is not related to light therapy, but may allow free-runners to experience gentle sunrise colors around the time they would typically wake up.

 

Techniques for Positive Routines while Free-Running

Sighted Non-24 patients often struggle with maintaining routines and maintaining a positive outlook, especially when waking at night. Using specific lighting, scents, and soundscapes can help. For example, a patient who free-runs and works remotely online, after waking and getting their “day” (active hours) started, may benefit from setting up a work-only environment. I.E., putting on an ambiance/soundscape YouTube video, only using specific lights or colors, specific scents (like an essential oil diffuser) … can all help encourage an association with productive work. The specific lights, soundscapes, and scents should only be used during this time of the waking-hours. 

Then, after working and while winding down, different lighting and scents associated with relaxation may help, too. 

As an example of a free-running day using these techniques:

• Wake
• Get ready for the “day” / active hours
• Morning meditation / yoga / ritual you enjoy 
• Breakfast
• Prepare for work  
  • Turn on work-lamp or extra lighting, string lights, a faux daylight window, etc. 
  • Turn on work-scent like peppermint essential oil in a diffuser, a candle, incense, or whatever is preferred. Consider stimulating vs relaxing scents. 
  • Turn on audio or a YouTube video of something like coffee shop ambiance, ambient concentration music, open window in New York City, birds singing by a lakeshore, sci-fi space cabin music, medieval tavern ambiance, or just about anything else. 
• Work – consider balancing focus with the Pomodoro Technique or something similar.  
• Break for lunch
• Work
• Free time, dinner, etc. 
• Relaxation / bedtime routine
  • Warm, low lighting, relaxing ambiance, etc., as long as it is not the same as the work-period ambiance used. 
• Sleep

The benefit of setting routines that work well when waking up at any time of the day or night begins with consistency and associating only those specific sounds, sights, and smells with the work period or whichever period they correlate with.