Have you ever wished for more hours in a day?
Unfortunately, it is not an improvement on the typical 24-hour day.
We know from experience…
For people with Sighted Non-24-Hour Sleep-Wake Disorder, the amount of sleep we need and the time we are awake adds up to over 24-hours. Our days are longer than normal (or shorter in extra-rare circumstances).
In short, an “Earth day” is 24 hours, but our biological day length is not 24 hours (Non-24), which causes our wake-periods to fall out of sync with the social clock.
Longer body clocks create a forward shift in our sleep-wake patterns. Sighted Non-24 is caused by a malfunction of the circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm is our natural body clock. For typical people, their circadian rhythm is 24 hours long. But for us, it is not.
People with Non-24 can neither wake up nor go to sleep at the same time every day.
Non-24 disrupts our ability to socialize, work normal hours, and attend scheduled appointments… among many other things.
Why not just wake up to an alarm?
Sighted Non-24 is rare and not well understood by medical professionals. If people with Non-24 are forced to wake up at the same time every day to a scheduled alarm, we become sleep deprived and unable to function properly.
Long-term sleep deprivation is harmful to health and leads to dangerous complications. Many Sighted Non-24 patients find they are healthiest and most productive when they let their sleep free-run (sleeping when sleepy and waking when naturally refreshed).
Even if we get a full eight hours of sleep, it may not be restful if it takes place when the circadian rhythm doesn’t expect it to, further contributing to a state of frequent sleep deprivation.
Many of us have no choice but to sleep when sleepy and wake when refreshed, meaning we live with a disability.
Who are we?
We are a few Sighted Non-24 Sleep-Wake Disorder patients dedicated to bringing awareness to Sighted Non-24. It is an isolating, debilitating, and misunderstood disorder; so, it’s important we help connect our experiences with you. We are normal people with an abnormal complication in our lives.
Connect with Non-24 Patients
Connect with us on Facebook HERE!
This is our most active account and the quickest way to reach out to us.
We’re also on Instagram HERE!
@sightednon24 or click the icon above.
R/N24 is a Reddit community about Non-24. It features many discussions and resources HERE. This is second-largest online community of Non-24 patients.
The largest online group of Non-24 patients is the Non-24-Hour Sleep-Wake Disorder Support Group on Facebook HERE. As of January 2025, it has 2.4k+ members.
CircadianSleepDisorders.org offers many resources for all circadian rhythm disorders, including Non-24. They also offer a list of practitioners by region.
Did you know? The circadian rhythm is NOT controlled by willpower. It is driven by a variety of complex biological mechanisms...
For more info, see our FAQ page and then our Non-24 Dictionary.