Ever thought of participating in a sleep disorder study or a clinical research trial? You may be aware that doing so may give you a significantly large monetary thank you award, quite possibly free medication for any sleep disorders you may have and free official doctor evaluations. Large, mostly prestigious research hospitals around the US are constantly seeking research study participants to donate their time, opinions and often time a lot more than that in exchange for free medical treatment, exposure to an experimental trial education and very often, monetary compensation.
Depending on where you live and how you travel, some may be more familiar with the advertising for these studies than others. In Boston, for instance, one is almost certain to see a sign recruiting volunteers for sleep disorder research studies on the subway and sometimes on the bus. I would imagine the same goes in other cities with mass public transportation. Additionally, the metro free newspapers or even some of the paid newspapers often advertise research study participant opportunities in big boxes on the back page. There are studies constantly going on about all sorts of diseases, disorders and consumer behaviors, but most people seem to notice the sleep disorder calls for participants the most.
Why are they more obvious? Well, to put it bluntly, they seem to pay the most. In Boston, there seems to be sleep study advertisements everywhere you look, promising anywhere from $200 to $12,500 or so. It is quite amazing, and one can only imagine how much work such an intense, expensive research project must entail. But that is a very good question, in fact, the answer to it usually weeds out the ones that either seriously need to find out what’s going on with their sleep habits or the ones who are financially distraught from those who couldn’t help but inquire about such a large sum of money for what seems like such an easy task.
The sleep study research on the surface sounds amazing, always. You get to hang out in a plush hospital setting for 10, 14, or 28 days, depending on the length of your particular study and pretty much get to do whatever you want most of the time such as read, listen to music, write letters etc. Many study groups also offer the participant their own suite. People tend to look at these factors and then look at their flimsy wallet and think, “hmmm.. Why not?”
This is of course what I not only did a while ago, but what I end up suckering myself into doing every time I see an ad for sleep study research project that promises a large sum of money. However, no matter how broke I am, or how badly I need to solve my bizarre random hour sleep cycle, I don’t believe I could ever resort to one of those brutal sleep disorder studies. As monitored as they are by clinical, well trained professionals and doctors, to be completely honest with you, I think I would freak myself out so bad I’d go absolutely nuts and perhaps become permanently delusional.
You see, I have looked into many of these sleep disorder research studies and have gotten the general scoop on what is allowed, what is required and what is intended. I would love to share with you here, for the sole purpose of a) warning everyone wanting to make a quick extra grand that in this method there are indeed many strings attached, b) express my shock and horror at the requirements one has to obey by in these sleep disorder studies and finally c) congratulate profusely any living sole that has actually attempted one of these sleep disorder study research projects and made it through okay while simultaneously encouraging all readers to find these people and shower them with love and attention and complete honor that they managed to get through such a catastrophic experience.
All sleep disorder studies are different but as I mentioned, the majority of them keep you in their sleeping quarters, or facility for anywhere from 10 to 28 days. Once you read the rest of the curriculum, you may disagree with me, but I personally believe the worst part of the whole endeavor is that the doctors do not allow you any access during the entire study whatsoever to anything that might give you an idea of what day, time or date it might be. That means no newspapers, probably no television, no internet, and yep, you probably guessed it, no windows or peep into the outside world. None. Imagine for 28 days being cooped up in a bedroom struggling to concentrate on your 25th book of choice having no utterly idea whether its Monday or Friday, night or day, hot or cold, rainy or windy?
To me personally that sounds devastating. I mean sure, it would be an awesome chance to catch up on your reading, but in my opinion this scenario sounds worse than being in a jail cell. At least in a jail cell you can see a little hole of light and there is a routine in your daily activities to keep you moving in some sort of a comprehensible pattern.
Here are some of the other trends that happen to be crucial components of these long term sleep disorder research study projects:
Complete Isolation
No visitors or phone calls. From what I’ve read for most of the research studies (remember, many hospitals are doing these so each requirement might not apply to all of them) it strongly implies that not only will you be unable to interact with any of your peers or family members through any means of communication but it seems you will be completely isolated from all other study volunteers as well. There are many statements that I imagine are written in attempt to relieve the participants who state that frequent interactions with the study staff and professionals are in fact common. Oh yay.
Robotic Rhythm
Most of the sleep research studies need a control group of some kind and so they use your bodily routines and habits as such. They very often will have you shower and eat at the same time each “day” and try to keep you doing the same things habitually. Breakfast lunch and dinner will also be served at regular hours and drawing of blood, along with various brain wave monitoring tests are also administered frequently and possibly daily.
Clockwork Orange Without Being Punished…Or…Are You?
In the movie Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick, the authorities try to force a young delinquent boy into good behavior and morals by prying his eyes open for hours on end and forcing him to watch unsettling visual images. He gets violently ill during the whole process but “as part of the therapy” the doctors and nurses won’t let him break free. This next task of the sleep disorder study research participant reminds me of this gruesome movie because the research study participant will be required to maintain one single posture (most likely a seated one) for 32-64 hours. And I’m talking completely inactive. I am fairly sure I read in the past during my other foolish inquiries into this study opportunity that no bathroom breaks are even allowed and one must use a catheter to relieve his or herself. The study information does inform us that the participant will receive two sleep periods in which the room will be dark during this 32-64 hour stretch, but it seems almost definite that the sleep must be performed in the same constant posture. I cannot even imagine.
SAT Test Flashback
I am not sure that all of the researchers performing these sleep studies end up doing this part of the procedure but it is a pretty good bet that most of them are. That is, the comprehensive cognitive type of tests that require you to do such things as oh, anything from fill in the blanks to multiple choice questions, to label ink blotches to measure your reactions and emotional feedback by pressing one or two particular buttons or computer keyboard. In most of the studies I’ve looked into, this section of the lengthy sleep stay extravaganza does not offer much more detail then what I’ve just provided. I would not be surprised however if these tests were administered when you are delusionally exhausted from no sleep or maybe bright and early in the morning after first waking up. Please note that I am of course just exaggerating here and jumping to conclusions in an area I truly know very little about but just from the perspective of someone who has read multiple overviews of these studies directed toward myself as the potential participant, I truthfully wouldn’t be too surprised if I wasn’t right on the mark.
Couch Potato Syndrome
Okay, so now we get into the leisurely activities that are allowed. Unfortunately there are not so many and even worse, none of them really allow for any movement or exercise of the limbs or muscles. This might really become a problem for someone that is stuck in a small area for 28 days, if you think about it. But the study rules clearly delineate the privileges the participants have: access to some musical instruments, books, CDs, tapes, the ability to write draw or paint (at this point I’m wondering why they can’t watch movies that don’t give away the time?). Anyway, it is clearly stated that no exercise is allowed besides light stretching as it can mess up some hormone balances that will affect the test results. Yikes! When does it end?
There are a few more restrictions but I think you get the point. These studies are a lot more trouble than they may sound like from the catchy advertisement above the subway window or in the back of your favorite newspaper. Sure, a few thousand bucks is a lot of money, but what happens when you get out and you practically go crazy from all of the objects around you that used to be so familiar but are now so foreign and obtrusive? Now maybe, again, the study researchers have a slick way of helping people integrate back into the lighted world after 28 days without a concept of time, and that would be great. But still, would you want to take the chance?
And I suppose right here I should state that the money really is enticing and I myself will probably continue to look into more of these studies further in depth like I have done with the ones I described here. But realistically, I think anyone venturing into one of these procedures is seriously putting their sanity at risk. However, at the same time, there are obviously people that are out there keeping these studies going, and we haven’t really heard so far about any major disasters related to them, so that does comfort me just a bit more. It’s an interesting concept a cool unique way to make money but I guess I just am not that officially rock bottom broke yet. To all those people that have done one of these studies though and have lived through it to see their sanity still in tact, please do write me a letter? I’d be fascinated to hear how it went. 28 days. Oh my my.
