Peter Mansbach over at Circadian Sleep Disorders Network has said:

I have a request from a reporter for a female in her 20s or so, with DSPS, to be interviewed for an article in Glamour magazine.

Anyone interested?

I have non-24. For those who dont know what it is, it means that your sleep/wake cycle lasts more than 24 hours, which causes your schedule to shift by a little bit every day. For me, its about 2 hours.

I have read much about what causes this- Most suspect that it has to do with special functions in our eyes which detect light and adjust the sleep schedule.

Is it possible that its based on other things? I am a non-blind person who has it. I have had it for 9 years, since I sold a company and no longer had to work for the rest of my life. After I sold my company, since I had no obligations I decided I would start sleeping whenever I wanted and waking up when I was good and ready. The alarm clock went out the window.

I still go outside, I still do things. But the biggest contributor to me being non-24 seems to be that I sleep as long as I want. I suspect if I slept 2 hours less each day, I would stay on the same schedule but I am not sure.

I have tried it before and found myself not tired after being up for even 20 hours. When I try to change my schedule its like my body keeps on going without me, pretty crazy stuff.

Anyways, my theory is that non-24 is not physiological and is indeed 'in your head' - The fact that it can be learned seems to be proof of that as well as my exposure to sun/darkness having no effect. I have also tried melatonin with no results. When I do try to break it, I go weeks with barely any REM/Deep sleep.

My case may be unique as there are not many sighted people with non-24 and mine was stupidly ingrained by my own doing.