Living with a sleeping disorder can be quite troublesome. Narcolepsy is no different either. It needs a lot of getting used to and you have to cultivate an entirely different routine advised by a sleep specialist in order to live with such sleeping disorder.
You Will Have Episodes Of Fog In Your Concentration
Narcolepsy is a condition where you can fall asleep anytime, anywhere and without warning. This may sound like a dangerous thing and while it is, you will be happy to know that it is completely manageable and you can learn to live around it. One of the main things narcolepsy does is it tends to fog your brain and makes you lose concentration. This is a very common symptom of narcolepsy. Your attention span is no longer than a few minutes and before you know it, you will be drifting off to sleep.
This can be managed very easily. All you need to do is remember the pattern of how this triggers your sleep. This will take some getting used to, but you will get the hang of it in no time and the next time you will feel your sleep coming around and you can stop it or mitigate the action by some sort of distraction. The distraction you use is up to you and what keeps your brain busy and active. It can be exercise, working, reading, watching TV, cooking, eating or anything else.
Your Social Life Might Be Affected
Narcolepsy can affect your social life as well. No one likes to drift off to sleep in the midst of a conversation with your peers. This can be quite embarrassing and difficult to deal with. The thing you need to do here is to catch yourself in the moment you find yourself drifting off. This is all about practice and you need to hold yourself in the moment and not lose yourself to narcolepsy.
A few lifestyle changes can be made to mitigate this action. Narcolepsy also causes your memory to be jumbled up, so it’s a good idea to have important things written down, just in case you find yourself in a situation where you will forget about something.
It Can Cause Sleep Deprivation
Narcolepsy does mean sleeping anywhere, but this sleep doesn’t necessarily help you with your peace and rest. It will do nothing to put your mind at ease and you will still feel tired after waking up. This can cause a lot of sleep deprivation issues, in itself, is a hard thing to deal with. Your mood isn’t good, you will be tired and lethargic all the time, you feel angry and you are unable to do anything because your mind will not focus.
Develop A Sense Of Self-Awareness
People with narcolepsy, with time, tend to understand their disorder and they know to a certain extent about their triggers and what causes their symptoms to trigger bouts of drowsiness. This is known as self-awareness. This is very important to master if you want to live with narcolepsy. This is a very simple habit to master and all it takes is some time to get to know your disorder and how your body reacts to it. You need to be in tune with your body about how it feels with narcolepsy and how you can manage it, if it tends to go out of control.
Talk To People About It
The best way to deal with anything is to let it out and talk about your problems, your thoughts and feelings with people. Narcolepsy patients have group therapy sessions, where each person can share their experiences with narcolepsy and how they are coping and managing their life with this disorder. Talking to people will put you at ease, and you will not feel alone in your struggle to manage narcolepsy. Also, talking to your friends and family will help you a lot too. They will understand the situation better.
Conclusion
Narcolepsy is a difficult thing to get used to. You have to make a lot of changes in your life to make peace with this disorder. With time, it gets easier to manage. For better management, go to a sleep disorder clinic.
