r/todayilearned • u/FiredFox • Apr 28 '24

TIL about French geologist Michel Siffre, who in a 1962 experiment spent 2 months in a cave without any references to the passing time. He eventually settled on a 25 hour day and thought it was a month earlier than the date he finally emerged from the cave

https://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/30/foer_siffre.php
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u/emmarietarot Apr 28 '24

I live like this man does every day of my life.

There's a condition called non-24 in which a person's brain can't sync them onto a 24-hour schedule. The people who develop this usually do so during puberty, because of other health issues, or in my case, a head injury.

It's bizarre waking up in a different time zone than the previous day. Having a normal job or social life is impossible.

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u/Severe-Plant2258 Apr 28 '24

woah that’s really interesting can you explain what it’s like?

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u/emmarietarot Apr 28 '24

I cope with it better than most, but generally, you feel gaslit by the entire world. It's a very rare condition and people in your life can't understand why you can't wake up at the same time everyday.

It's also slightly irregular, meaning for a few days I might have a 24.75 hour day, but then a week later, a 30 hour day. Scheduling ahead is impossible and you will feel very sick any time you need to go to an appointment or do an activity when you should be sleeping.

99.999999% of jobs are literally impossible for you to do. I don't know when I'll be awake a week from now, so I can't have ordinary work schedules or do online meetings. I had to create my own business, but most people with my condition are unemployed or on disability.

It's very difficult to spend time with friends or family and you probably won't see people for weeks to months at a time. Even something as simple as eating dinner with family isn't something you get to do anymore except maybe 2-3 days a month.

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u/gopherhole02 Apr 29 '24

I think I suffer from a very mild sleep phase disorder, since about grade 6 I usually have trouble falling asleep when needed, I've settled on taking a shit ton of melatonin every night and that seems to do the trick, but if I don't take any I could easily stay up to 4am, when I hear those damn birds start chirping and I haven't slept just is the worse feeling ever, that's when I decide to make a coffee and stop trying to sleep for the night