I’d like to think at least one of the handful of psychologists and psychiatrists I’ve had would’ve caught it if I had autism. It’s not that I concentrate and forget, I’m not usually just focusing on one thing for that time, sometimes it will be a perfectly normal day.
Also, while I’m not in as peak physical condition as I’d like, I’m not exactly failing at being in shape. I have “awareness” of my body just fine. I think I’m just a tad scatterbrained. Nobody here has had the situation of finishing a movie or a long car ride and suddenly realizing “oh, my body was suppressing the urge to pee. I should do that.” It’s like that except on a larger scale. It’s not like this is even frequent, and by not frequent I don’t mean “once a month” I mean more like “twice a year.”
Now, in other situations, the fact that sometimes I have bodily functions calling and I IGNORE them (though not for not eating, not eating is a migraine trigger for me sometimes, albeit not a reliable one, so if I notice I’m hungry I usually eat) may contribute, it may simply just give up and figure I won’t listen sometimes. I ignore some things like pee until I absolutely can’t stand it sometimes so I have more control in case there’s a scenario where I legitimately NEED to hold it, granted I don’t make a habit of doing this, but I’ve done it before.
Guys, it’s not like I eat once a month, and then wet the bed while suffering from extreme self imposed constipation and insomnia. I think I just get rather scatterbrained sometimes. It may be mildly unhealthy, but it’s infrequent enough that I don’t think it’s really a problem. It’s a tiny bit worrisome sometimes, and it may be outside the norm, but I’m not wasting away. Hell, sometimes the eating one is a product of being hungry at the wrong times, i.e. I get hungry during class and then I forget about it by the time it gets out (and most people I know get “unhungry” if it goes unattended for too long), and then it’s a long string of “hungry + can’t eat” then “not hungry -> not thinking of eating at the moment.” Usually I’m pretty good at remembering and heating something up while I have time even if I’m not strictly hungry anymore, but sometimes I forget simply because I don’t feel hungry, and so I’m not thinking about food.
I’m a woman over 40 - from “everything is hunky dory” to “Ineedtogonow”, whenever I stand up from a seat not made of porcelain. I understand it’s worse for those who’ve given birth vaginally.
For most of my time in college, I lived in a dorm owned by nuns. M-Sat, feeding times were 8am, 1pm, 9pm (1h for each). On Sundays, breakfast was the best chocolate I’ve ever had (with your choice of churros, croissants or toast), but at 10am after 9am Mass; lunch was at 3pm. Many a Sunday I got up at 5ish, sat down to study, and eventually thought “gee, I’m kind of peckish, it must be breakfast time already… ohshitalmost4pm!” zoooomed all the way down the hallway down two flights of stairs and got to the serving area as the nuns were starting to close up. My record was this one time I thought it must be breakfast time and I’d missed dinner - people hadn’t said anything because they knew that when I was concentrated I could miss the start of WWIII and because they could hear my cursing through the door (what, you don’t curse while you design analog electronic circuits?).
I usually go to bed by 10, but I’m one of those freaks known as “morning people”; I wake up at 5am no matter what time I went to bed. Most non-shift workers go to bed at 11ish Sun-Th (as they need to get up at 7am) but won’t be in bed before 1am on a F-Sat they don’t go out… later if they do. Many people consider that being in bed at 3am of a night out is early (someone who does that will usually wake up in time for a late breakfast), being in bed at 7am and needing to be dragged out for lunch is a bit too late. If it’s 8am and you’re still awake, you usually won’t bother going to bed at all (we call that empalmar, “to string (two days) together”). This isn’t only for college-age folk, or only for the summer, or only for people who can afford those world-famous siestas; we don’t believe in partying hard (that sounds too much like hard work), but we do take our partying seriously.
In certain circumstances, when I’m extremely tired, I catch myself “forgetting” to breathe for maybe 15 seconds or so. And I agree, this is pretty odd.
I’ve done it a bunch of times in my life. I’ll feel a bit weak and lightheaded then realize it’s been a day or two since I’ve eaten anything. Not quite as extreme but on weekends I regularly don’t eat until 5pm or later.
I’ve heard that it can be age-related: Older folks often forget meals, even for a day or more at a time, without noticing (this is one concern for elderly living alone). So all you folks thinking it’s completely bizarre, it may yet happen to you.
If I may continue the hijack - is the siesta = afternoon nap between noon and 4 pm still common in Spanish way of life and therefore compensates for short sleep in the night? Or how else do people get by regularly with such little sleep? (And I thought Americans are sleep-deprived!) Doesn’t everybody shuffle around like zombies after several nights/ days like this?
No, the afternoon nap isn’t common except in the summer, when most office people work mornings only.
Most people aren’t really sleep deprived: if they need to wake up at 7am, they go to bed at 11pm, that’s 8 hours. If they’ve gone out and gotten to bed at 5am, they’ll be getting out of bed at 1pm, that’s again 8 hours.
But still, many people (not just here, I’ve also encountered these folk in every other country where I’ve worked) seem to behave like very-silent zombies until noon +/-1h (exact time depends on the person). In “northern culture” countries (Switzerland, the UK, the NE of the US), they’ll just spend the morning being very, very quiet; in “southern culture” ones (Spain, Italy, Latin America - including the SW US) they’re the ones who once awake say “man, I’m not good for anything until I have at least three coffees in me” and I’ll be thinking “no, dude, you’re the kind of ‘not a morning person’ who simply shouldn’t come to work until noon”. They’re the kind for whom it’s more natural and easier to stay late, I’m the kind for whom it’s more natural and easier to come in early. Again, IME it’s got more to do with what each person’s natural biorythms are than with how much they’ve actually slept.
The ones who are natural night owls, who can’t fall asleep before 3am but need to be at work by 8am? That is, the ones who really are sleep-deprived? Those won’t wake up before 4pm… they’re upright, but all that’s missing is a moaning soundtrack of “braaaaaaains…”