The Rise of Sleep Disorders and What We Can Do About It | Teagan Youmans | TEDxOlympiaHighSchool

Teagan Youmans is a 17-year-old student from Olympia, Washington. He has first-hand experience with the interplay between mental health, school, social life, and sleep; he was diagnosed with both narcolepsy and delayed sleep phase disorder at the age of 16. It is his mission to educate others and help rewrite the narrative around sleep. He recently received his GED and is focused on becoming a future adolescent therapist. Teagan Youmans is a 17-year-old student from Olympia, Washington. He has first-hand experience with the interplay between mental health, school, social life, and sleep; he was diagnosed with both narcolepsy and delayed sleep phase disorder at the age of 16. It is his mission to educate others and help rewrite the narrative around sleep. He recently received his GED and is focused on becoming a future adolescent therapist. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@teaganyoumans]

I want to make a slight addition to a point I made:
There is such a thing as the ‘REM rebound effect’ where your body will try to “catch up” on REM sleep when deprived of such over time. My point still stands, though, that if you are continuously getting poor/inadequate sleep, then trying to “catch up” is pointless. It simply doesn't exist. :)

[@vagabondmom448]

Thank you so very much for giving this talk. We are going through this right now with our son. So close to graduation, always a high achieving student and he can only make it to school maybe 50% of the time and it’s getting worse. The Drs have run all of the standard blood tests to figure out what’s going on with no conclusive evidence. Next recommended is a sleep study. Thank you for being so brave as to share your experience!

[@kafka9627]

I convinced myself my whole life that I was just lazy. I’ve tortured myself and forced myself to be normal but I get severe depressions and chronic pain when I have periods of waking up on time
Turns out I have delayed circadian rhythm, and possibly restless leg syndrome

[@hiralmakhecha5542]

I have alongside my ADHD

[@karenw1706]

Great job! Thanks for sharing your story

[@embracesleep3203]

Thank you for sharing!

[@TakenLOL]

Thanks for sharing! Your story is similar to our daughter’s who has had neurologists diagnose her with excessive daytime sleepiness with an unknown cause. Thanks for expressing how you deal with things. It has been quite the journey for you. It would be nice to know what the common factor is for many that suffer like this. Praying for answers Teagan.

[@ivoescobar]

Great talk. Sorry that happened so early...

[@mehmanstom]

Hello in Baku 🇦🇿❤️🇹🇷

[@Kage_Nichole1]

Yeah I have narcolepsy but refuse to get diagnosed.🤷🏾‍♀️ There’s no cure so what’s the point?

[@nitronoah1265]

Ehhh depending on how severe you have it you could get medication that would pretty much bring your symptoms to a standstill. But if it’s severe medication only goes so far but definitely helps

[@036shrikantgavhane9]

Yehhh 1st view 😛