The other day, I came across a rather curious word – one I thought I could use to defend myself from the judgemental eyes of my mother. But after giving the definition a thorough reading, I was a bit taken aback. The word was ‘dysania’.
Have you ever felt too tired even after getting to sleep for a good number of hours? Do you find it very difficult to pull yourself up from the bed even when you need to rush to your office? Well, the world might brand you lazy but you are probably suffering from a psychological disorder called clinomania, popularly known as dysania.
I could connect well with the word as it is an everyday affair for me. I do not feel like leaving my bed even after I have slept for more than eight hours. Google threw up a few links that shed more light on the disorder.
A website on clinomania says that if a person feels anxious or depressed after waking up, or finds it extremely difficult to get out of the bed, they are probably a clinomaniac. These people, like me, do not get to hear the alarm bell – and probably a deeper study can reveal the exact reason behind it.
Some say a good cure is to get some extra hours of sleep while others recommend going for a checkup. But many who have never come across this word could mistake a clinomaniac patient as just being lazy.
After reading about the disorder, the best solution I came across was to go on a vacation – preferably to some quiet place without friends or away from the humdrum lifestyle. A hill station seems to be the perfect destination for this purpose.
However, I would wish to tell those lucky ones who are not suffering from the disorder that it is really painful for a person suffering from dysania to behave normally when the alarm bell rings. Though I am not sure whether I am a clinomaniac or not, in my case, I have never heard the alarm bell, and have often missed lectures, meetings and other important things. My head feels heavy and my eyes do not open. Maybe the two are less connected with the disorder, but it is really not a pleasant feeling to wake up all tired. I think people with such disorders need to be understood. If you can, take that person you know who shows such symptoms to a doctor – or if you are the patient yourself, consult a doctor immediately.
Interestingly, I came across a line in one of the websites which said that people working in evening or night shifts are more prone to dysania. Thanks to IT and media jobs, this thing is slowly becoming a pathetic normal among a huge chunk of people. The body clock gets badly damaged and affects the sleep cycle tremendously.
Your organisation might not allow you to be late to office for dysania, but all bosses should read about it and understand that we do not do so deliberately. At times, I spend sleepless nights – just because the next morning, I have some earth-shattering thing to do. But trust me, I feel way worse than just tired after staying awake all night – only to avoid the unnecessary hassle of waking up.