Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

Post Reply New Topic

Yep - bedtime gets later and later until every so often i dont get to bed before dawn and end up skipping a sleep completely - and starting back at early bedtimes and the start of the circle....

What is frustrating, is finding a natural way to address this. Things like Valerian, Melatonin, Kava, etc; work better for insomniacs, not people with this particular disorder. On certain medications, I find that once I fall asleep, I stay asleep, and waken refreshed, even if it is 3:00 pm! But, those medications have side effects, which are undesirable to me.

I think most humans have circadian rhythms that are longer than 24 hours. Not, however, by much--usually, it's around ten minutes, an amount that's easy to reset every day. If you have a circadian rhythm that's longer by thirty minutes or even an hour, though, you'll have to find a way to basically beat an hour of jet lag every day to stay on track with the twenty-four-hour clock.

DSPS is what happens when someone has gotten so "jet lagged" that they're going to bed much later than they should, and are unable to reset their circadian rhythms. It can involve an unusually long circadian day.

One treatment for DSPS is actually what FePixie is talking about: Going to bed later, deliberately, every day, until your sleep cycle matches with the desired bedtime, and then trying to maintain it there by some method.

Almost 2 am. again! I wrote in "constant fatigue" topic, that I've tried some pills and nothing.

my Melatonin Jetlag Program - no effect
Zolpidem/Benzodiazepines - overthinking effect, I was drawing pictures like "Construction of the Universe" but couldn't sleep
Be just tired - yeah, all day, but about 10 pm. I always get energy kick

Maybe I have other brain. Caffeine stops my motions and lets learning, but doesn't give the power.

When sb tell me Go to bed earlier! it annoys me, but I answer Oh... we, Vampires...

My natural life time is: sleep 3-12, best thinking 20-2, earlier it's time for things that should be done.
When I sleep enough, I don't fall into depression and I am really creative and constructive. I hate this timezone, it destroys my life.

I sometimes wonder if there is a mild form of that, and if I might have it. Maintaining a 'normal' person's sleep pattern kicks the s**t out of me.

I'm a night owl but no matter how late I stay up... I wake up when it starts getting bright, like 5-8am depending on the time of year. It sucks but it's even worse to block out the light and just have pitch black as that makes me feel like a zombie whenever I wake up and this happens even if I've had tons of sleep. I used to be able to sleep in til past noon even with light, but now I just can't do it anymore. And snoozing the alarm is NOT an answer!

i have never got lot of sleep before 2am and is sleep anywhere 8 to 10 am

How about blocking the light, and then using an alarm clock that brightens a light gradually to wake you up?

I've just recently seen one of those. May have to try it... But I also just need to invest in decent curtains (I have crappy blinds atm) cause I prefer natural light during the day. But that type of alarm clock does seem appealing.

I used to get woken by daylight when I still needed to sleep. And, even though I had a pair of dark curtains, and a set of blinds on my bedroom window, sunlight would still get in. So, I taped a piece of dark, plastic sheeting over my window. This effectively shut out light. And, if I want to let light in later, I can just take it off!

Tomorrow begins new weeksession of unbraining
(I don't know English word for it, I mean making brain hollow and sleepy)

Amitriptyline put me to sleep at 25mgs but made me groggy and a total jerk to everyone. I was seriously looking for a fight and that is not me at all. Some antidepressants have the same effect (none work for me btw).

Ambien did not make me as groggy but really gave me memory problems. I already have selective memory but after taking 10 mgs a night for a week I could not remember where I parked everyday after work. It was so embarrassing that I would wait for everyone to leave before going out.

I tried to run to make myself tired but it just kickstarted my energy and left me up for long periods.

Melatonin and Valerian root seemed more like placebos.
Alcohol is probably the worst self medication that I tried.

Now I just wake up after a short sleep and take either ephedrine or yohimbe to deal with the tiredness. Sighhhh

My body runs on about a 28 hour day, which doesn't mesh well with a 24 hour world.

Ya I've always had sleep problems, it's 2:30am now...

It is like my body clock can add time but not remove it, so my desire to sleep just gets pushed back further and further. I usually sort it out by not sleeping at all. I end up so tired that I can go to bed earlier and sleep. Sometimes it doesn't work though, really annoying

I blame lightbulbs and clocks.

I'm usually not ever ready to go to bed on time, but when I wake up I always feel like I haven't rested enough.