Tom,

It is a very low incidence in sighted people.
I actually heard about some studies in this area as part of my Human 
Resources job in the mid 1990s.  I worked with a consultant that specialized 
in optimizing schedules for continuous/rotating shiftworkers as is set up in 
many manufacturing plants as well as the utility company I worked for.  Some 
shiftworkers who work a lot of night shifts and are only exposed to 
artificial light exhibit some of the same characteristics, but to a somewhat 
lesser extent.

The consultant didn't know that I was blind.  When he met me, he asked if I 
had any issues with sleeping?  I think my jaw dropped.  His company was 
based out of Boston, and he said he was aware of some research at Harvard 
involving sleep issues faced by the blind.  Again, this was in circa 
1996-97.

By the way, I've been fighting the sleep-wake issue for years, and almost 
lost a previous job over thirty years ago because I fell asleep in a 
meeting.  I can most definitely assure you it is not a contrived phenomenon 
for those of us who experience it in its more extreme cases.

Steve, K8SP
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Brennan" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2014 7:47 AM
Subject: Re: Off Topic: Non 24 A Blind Disease?


> Interesting thing about all of this is that it is also seen in sighted 
> folks who
> have unusual sleep schedules.  The must interesting question to all of 
> this is
> whether it is actually a disorder or a result of physiology -- its a 
> chicken and
> egg question.
>
> Tom
>
>
> Tom Brennan  KD5VIJ, CCC-A/SLP
> web page http://titan.sfasu.edu/~g_brennantg/sonicpage.html