ok. this is a double post. if you know i my other blog exists, you can read that. if not, here's what i wrote that i wanted to share. SO YOU KNOW I REALLY HAVE A SLEEP PROBLEM. lol.
ok. so i was doing some research on insomnia and sleep problems. all the stuff i'm going to quote here is from wikipedia.
first, insomnia is generally
'a sleeping disorder characterized by the inability to fall asleep and/or the inability to remain asleep for a reasonable amount of time.'
this doesnt apply to me, cause once i fall asleep, im able to sleep for long periods of time comfortable (usually).
but its obvious i have some sort of sleep disorder, which is why i'm totally awake and active at 3am in the morning. my brain functioning well enough for me to actually want to study. there's always some part of me which insists that i need to sleep. which would result in me tossing and turning for hours on end. luckily i only have 3 morning papers for the A's. would have to sleep early then, so my chinese medication would come in handy.
upon further research, i found out about this sleep disorder which i feel really fits my situation. its called
'Delayed Sleep Phrase Syndrome (DSPS)'.
"Also known as delayed sleep-phase disorder or as circadian rhythm sleep disorder delayed sleep-phase type (DSPT), is a chronic disorder of sleep timing. People with DSPS
tend to fall asleep at very late times, and also have difficulty waking up in the morning.
Often, people with the disorder report that they
cannot sleep until early morning, but they
fall asleep at about the same time every "night", no matter what time they go to bed. Unless they have another sleep disorder such as sleep apnea in addition to DSPS,
patients can sleep well, and have a normal need for sleep. Therefore, they find it very difficult to wake up in time for a typical school or work day if they have only slept for a few hours. However, they
sleep soundly, wake up spontaneously, and
do not feel sleepy again until their next "night"
if they are allowed to follow their own late schedule, e.g. sleeping from 4 a.m. to noon.
The syndrome usually develops in early childhood or adolescence, and sometimes disappears in adolescence or early adulthood. It can be to a greater or lesser degree treatable, but cannot be cured.
" so totally me. when im in bed at two, i toss and turn for hours. when im in bed at four, i fall asleep almost immediately.
"According to the International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD), the key characteristics of DSPS are:
1.
Sleep-onset and wake times that are intractably
later than desired2.
Actual sleep-onset times at nearly the
same daily clock hour3. Little or
no reported difficulty in maintaining sleep once sleep has begun
4. Extreme difficulty awakening at the desired time in the morning
5. A relatively
severe to absolute inability to advance the sleep phase to earlier hours by enforcing conventional sleep and wake times.
"point one. i want to be able to fall asleep earlier! and wake up earlier. [o]
two. i can fall asleep at the same time everyday. just that its like 4am. [o]
three. able to sleep comfortably when i fall alseep. [o]
four. setting an alarm at 10am is useless, cause i'll just fall back asleep and wake up at the same time i usually do, 1.15pm. but i can wake up for school and church totally fine. just would feel extreme sleepiness the whole day. like now. [o]
five. trying to fall asleep earlier is pretty torturous cause my brain is totally active, and i have anxiety issues when i cannot fall asleep, which sort of makes it worse. [o]
All five points apply.
"The following features of DSPS distinguish it from other sleep disorders:
1. People with DSPS have at least a
normal - and often much greater than normal -
ability to sleep during the morning, and sometimes in the
afternoon as well. In contrast, those with chronic insomnia do not find it much easier to sleep during the morning than at night.
2. People with DSPS
fall asleep at more or less the same time every night, and
sleep comes quite rapidly if the person
goes to bed near the time he or she usually falls asleep. Young children with DSPS resist going to bed before they are sleepy, but the bedtime struggles disappear if they are allowed to stay up until the time they usually fall asleep.
3. DSPS patients can
sleep well and regularly when they can
follow their own sleep schedule, e.g. on weekends and during vacations.
4. DSPS is a chronic condition. A diagnosis of DSPS is generally not given unless symptoms have been
present for at least a month.
"totally applies. this problem has been going on for years. like since sec3 or sec4.
"Attempting to force oneself through 9–5 life with DSPS has been compared to constantly living with 6 hours of jet lag. Often, sufferers manage only a few hours sleep a night during the working week, then compensate by sleeping until the afternoon on weekends. Sleeping in on weekends, and/or
taking long naps during the day, gives people with the disorder
relief from daytime sleepiness but also perpetuates the late sleep phase.
People with DSPS tend to be
extreme night owls. They feel
most alert and say they
function best and are most creative in the
evening and at night. DSPS patients
cannot simply force themselves to sleep early. They may
toss and turn for hours in bed, and sometimes not sleep at all, before reporting to work or school.
" "DSPS is a disorder of the body's timing system - the biological clock. Individuals with DSPS might have an unusually long circadian cycle, or might have a reduced response to the re-setting effect of light on the body clock.
People with normal circadian systems can generally fall asleep quickly at night if they slept too little the night before. Falling asleep earlier will in turn automatically advance their circadian clocks. In contrast, people with DSPS are
unable to fall asleep before their usual sleep time,
even if they are sleep-deprived. Research has shown that
sleep deprivation does not reset the circadian clock of DSPS patients, as it does with normal people.
""Lack of public awareness of the disorder contributes to the difficulties experienced by DSPS patients, who are commonly stereotyped as undisciplined or lazy. Parents may be chastised for not giving their children acceptable sleep patterns, and
schools rarely tolerate chronically late, absent, or
sleepy students and fail to see them as having a chronic illness.
By the time DSPS sufferers receive an accurate diagnosis, they often have been misdiagnosed or
labelled as lazy and incompetent workers or students for years.
""With treatment, some people with DSPS can sleep and function well with the early sleep schedule. Stimulant drugs (including caffeine) to keep the person awake during the day may not be necessary. A
chief difficulty of treating DSPS is in
maintaining an earlier schedule after it has been established.
Inevitable events of normal life, such as staying up late for a celebration or having to stay in bed with an illness, tend to
reset the person's sleeping schedule to late times again.
""Experienced clinicians acknowledge that DSPS is
extremely difficult to treat.
""Some people with the disorder are unable to adapt to earlier sleeping times, even after many years of treatment. Sleep researchers have proposed that the existence of untreatable cases of DSPS be formally recognized as a "sleep-wake schedule disorder disability".
'Patients suffering from SWSD disability should be encouraged to accept the fact that they suffer from a permanent disability, and that their quality of life can only be improved if they are willing to undergo rehabilitation. It is imperative that physicians recognize the medical condition of SWSD disability in their patients and bring it to the notice of the public institutions responsible for vocational and social rehabilitation.'
Rehabilitation for DSPS patients includes acceptance of the condition, and choosing a career that allows late sleeping times. In a few schools and universities, students with DSPS have been able to arrange to take exams at times when their concentration is good.
"yea. i totally wish i was diagnosed with this problem two years ago. wont have gotten into so much trouble with my teachers. ):
there was this link to a sleepiness test.
http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/epworth.htmltry it. i got 12 points.
this sleep thing is a problem.
im sort of panicking. eeks!!
anyone have any advice???????
stupid A levels.
if you had taken the time to read the whole thing, thank you. (:
x-posted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_syndrome
