You watch the clock. Three a.m., four a.m., five a.m. You know you have to be up and alert for work by nine a.m., but you're still wide awake. If this happens only occasionally, you could be suffering from temporary insomnia. But, if you toss and turn night after night and then, when morning comes, you're ready to sleep like a baby, you may be suffering from a sleep disorder called delayed sleep phase syndrome.
Symptoms of delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS) include the inability to fall asleep at night and excessive daytime sleepiness. If this problem continues over a three or four-month period, DSPS is probably the cause.
This syndrome makes it difficult to function in a world where the normal pattern dictates night as the time for sleep. Because DSPS can cause employment, relationship and other difficulties, it can lead to unhappiness and depression.
People suffering from DSPS are sometimes called "night owls." They function best late at night and feel drowsy and lethargic during the day. The circadian rhythm is in a complete reversal to what is considered normal.
Even when retiring at an hour that feels comfortable to them (in the early hours of the morning) they may still experience sleep onset insomnia and lie awake for thirty minutes or more before they can drop off to sleep.
Delayed sleep phase syndrome often begins in adolescence and may start as early as infancy. The onset, however, seldom occurs after the age of thirty.
Possible causes of adolescent DSPS are late night studying (or partying!) or shift work. Often no reason can be found for the start of the syndrome.
Delayed sleep phase syndrome is a very real disorder. It is not caused by deliberate behavior, and it isn't easy to cope with.
Sleeping pills have little or no effect in combating the inability to fall asleep. Neither does meditation. Melatonin or other natural sleep inducers have been successful in a few cases. Daytime naps also help, but napping is not feasible if you are trying to hold down a job.
Chronotherapy, which involves the systematic delaying of bedtime by three hour increments, is sometimes helpful, but this method has not proven successful for all sufferers of DSPS. Some have been unable to stick to this schedule. Others habitually return to their former sleep pattern.
