Hot Sleepy Girl Summer

While I do not have a summer break from work like I did in school, a lot of activities still happen during the summer: friends inviting me to hang out, family inviting me to visit, conventions, parties, etc. I am lucky to have so many circles of friends and family to surround myself with, but it does get overwhelming with my sleep disorder (idiopathic hypersomnia).

How I keep it together during the summer

Don't feel bad declining, or messaging that you fell asleep

It feels daunting to tell a friend or family member you can't make it because you're exhausted. Or that you couldn't make it due to falling asleep and/or not setting a “just in case alarm.”

At this point, I try not to stress too hard about it! There will always be more plans to hang out and make up for the lost time. I always try to be honest and tell people that my idiopathic hypersomnia got to the best of me, and I dozed off and missed a meetup. (Also, probably doesn't help I keep my phone on silent...alas). A real friend will understand that you didn't purposely miss the meetup or not feel upset that you had to cancel.

Set a "just in case” alarm

If I know I have a hangout or have a set time to see someone, I set a “just in case” alarm for if I uncontrollably doze off. This has saved me a few times when I've sat down to wait for time to pass. Although, this doesn't solve sleep inertia upon waking, so I take that into consideration when setting an alarm. I usually do an hour-ish before I have to leave the house.

Space out plans!

I learned the hard way that I cannot do back-to-back-to-back events. A good memory I have is from high school; me and my friends would plan out what stores we wanted to hit for Black Friday and stay up to catch the 5-6 a.m. deals. It was so fun driving around playing music and buying stuff we had been saving up for.

In the moment it was super fun, but after 3 or 4 days of staying up all day my body crashed super hard, and I slept more than my usual 10 hours. One time my mom thought I was dead because I was asleep all day! Thankfully she realized I wasn't dead after shaking me, but it was very disorientating. So now I try to keep it to 2 back-to-back events or less! I need a rest day in-between so I'm not wasting an entire day recovering. (This is harder for convention weekends, but I'm still working on that solution).

Sending out a reminder idiopathic hypersomnia text

Telling people how my idiopathic hypersomnia affects me and how it might hinder me during or before plans is helpful. Sometimes people forget I have a sleep disorder, so reminding them with a, “hey I want to go to your event but if I don't respond the day of the event, I am probably napping” doesn't hurt. I also tell people I might dip out early if I feel sleepy or run out of energy.

Replan!

If an event doesn't work out, it can often be replanned (as long it isn't something super important like a wedding). So keep that in mind!