The following is a visitor-submitted question or story. For more, you can submit your own sleep story here, or browse the collection of experiences and questions other visitors have shared here.

It Feels Amazing To Finally Know What It Is - DSPS

by Daniel

I've been called lazy, pathetic, worthless, and numerous other names throughout my short life by friends, family, gf's, employers, etc. They always just thought I was lazy, and I believed them.


Ever since I was a kid I always had trouble going to sleep. But I've always been told it's my fault, and if I was strong enough, I could fix it myself. I always just wanted to be normal and not have this problem that ruins my relationships, professional and personal, and I now know the face of the demon thats been haunting me.

It feels so amazing to finally know what it is, that's destroying my life. I literally cried when I stumbled across this info and then looked into it on wikipedia. I can finally stop beating myself up over this. I can actually try to get real treatment for it now. And its so amazing to have people I can relate to.

After reading all these stories other people have posted, its like looking in a mirror (I know, cliche) but its true. I hope one day I can finally get past this and lead a normal life so I dont have to go to work as a zombie worrying that I won't wake up for my next shift and get fired.

I'm writing this at 6am when I have work at 11am till 7pm, knowing I cant sleep even though im just now getting tired because I won't wake up if I do.

Thank you all so much for your stories. Im 20, and my name is Daniel. And I can only imagine how hard some of you older folk had it dealing with this a lot longer than me.

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Welcome! This site is continuously being created by students of Dr. William C. Dement's Sleep And Dreams course at Stanford University.

We made this site as a call to action for people all over the world to live healthier, happier, safer, and more productive lives by learning about their own sleep. We have faith that reading the information provided on this site will motivate you to be smart about your sleep deprivation and strategic about your alertness in order to live life to your fullest, most energetic potential.

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