Causes And Risk Factors Of Non-24-Hour Sleep-Wake Disorder
Non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder is a disorder of the circadian rhythm that happens when the body's internal clock is not synced with earth's light and dark cycles of day and night. Affected individuals go to sleep later every night and wake up later the following day. Ultimately, the patient's schedule for sleep goes all the way around the clock. For example, an affected individual may go to sleep at nine and wake up at nine in the morning, but the next night they won't go to sleep until eleven at night. This means they wake up at eleven the next day. The delay is pushed back by a few hours each night until the individual is back to falling asleep and waking up at nine again. The circadian clock is a cluster of thousands of brain nerve cells that transmit signals throughout the body when it's time to sleep or wake up.
Various causes and risk factors are associated with this disorder. Learn about them now.