The Sleep Education blog invited Julie Flygare, author of the REM Runner blog, to blog about her experiences as a person with narcolepsy. Julie is an avid runner and participated in the Boston Marathon to raise awareness and funds for finding a cure for narcolepsy.
Of the 365 days in a year, we spend 122 of those days asleep or trying to sleep.
Like it or not, we snooze for about eight hours a day; 10 days a month, four months a year, and 25 years over the course of our lives.
Sleep is the other one-third of life we rarely think about, instead sweeping it under the rug to move on to other more important things in the daylight.
Yet, when sleep slips away – all of life is affected.
Restful sleep slipped away from me at age 24, while I was in law school. Crucial daytime tasks like studying for exams and driving a car became extraordinarily difficult.
At first, excuses were easy to come by. I blamed myself. I blamed law school. I hadn’t had enough caffeine. I’d had too much caffeine. I blamed dark rooms, hot rooms, late nights, early mornings.
When I could no longer find excuses, I sought help. Turns out, an autoimmune disorder of the sleep/wake cycle called narcolepsy had robbed me of the promise of a good night’s sleep.
I was shocked to learn that an estimated 200,000 Americans live with narcolepsy and over 42 million Americans live with chronic sleep disorders.
Apparently, people are sleep walking all over America. I think it’s time we come together – to walk together and talk about sleep.
Please join me at the National Mall in Washington DC for “SLEEP WALK 2012” on Saturday, March 10th, 2012 at 9 AM. This event, hosted by Wake Up Narcolepsy, will celebrate National Sleep Awareness Week (March 4-11, 2012). March 10th is “Suddenly Sleepy” Saturday – a day dedicated to narcolepsy awareness.
Full details and registration at http://www.wakeupnarcolepsy.org. Over 70 people are registered at this point, coming from a dozen states, to sleep walk with us.
I encourage people with sleep disorders, sleep experts and sleep health enthusiasts from across the US to join us. Let’s take a few hours of the year to honor the other one-third of life – sleep.
