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Instructor
Original Poster
#1 Old 18th Apr 2014 at 7:00 PM
Default Sleep Disorder Legitimacy
Fist of all, I've been inactive for a while. Hello again.

On to the debate topic...
I've just (ostensibly) been diagnosed with severe Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (DSPD) and am truthfully a bit skeptical about its legitimacy as a true medical disorder. I don't even fit the profile of "going to sleep at the same time every night albeit later than a "normal" time and waking up at the same (late) time every day". My sleep is literally bouncing-off-the-walls irregular and this was the explanation that every medical examiner I've asked has given me.
Being an adolescent I've had countless people tell me that my circadian rhythm is going to be "a bit out of whack" while my brain and body mature, yada yada yada. My sleep's been kind of all over the place and I do speculate that the cause of this is probably just stress, puberty, and a constant changing of schedule (switching from public school to homeschooling to private school), plus maybe my unwillingness to conform to a routine. Is it entirely out of the question to speculate that DSPD may just be a bin of sorts that medical examiners use to compartmentalize all people who's sleep is irregular, despite the multitudinous ways in which one's sleep could vary from a "regular" pattern? Have we truly not discovered enough in the field of circadian rhythm to draw the line between a disorder that is physically present in our brain chemistry and a plausible occurrence in response to a certain lifestyle? (ex. to give an analogy, there is a clear difference between being overweight because of a thyroid condition and being overweight because of an unhealthy diet and a lack of exercise, and it's not logical to bundle these two very different occurrences into a single "disorder.")

In other words... do you doubt the legitimacy of sleep disorders? Feel free to share any opinions or theories you might have on this topic.

♫ She's got sunset on her breath, I inhaled just a little bit now I got no fear of death ♫
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Scholar
#2 Old 18th Apr 2014 at 9:12 PM
Well, just because it's a disorder doesn't mean it's something one's necessarily born with, or that it's not treatable. One would be amazed at how setting a specific time for sleeping every single night can completely change your health both while asleep and not. I read somewhere that one's sleep cycle is 90 minutes long so choosing a length of time to sleep that's a multiple of that is best. (For example, six and a half hours, eight hours, or nine and a half hours) Also, it's recommended that you don't drink coffee for roughly ten hours before you go to sleep, for most people that's noon. Yes, noon!

As you mentioned, puberty does tend to put a large pressure on you getting good sleep because your body is constantly growing whether it seems like it or not, and irregularity is the worst thing you could be doing sleep wise right now. I could imagine that the changes in your life (like school) can also be disruptive, but after a month or so of staying the same you'll be fine.

In short, I don't doubt that you have a sleeping disorder, but I fully believe you could fix it with healthier lifestyle choices.

Just call me Blake! :)
Hola, hablo español también - Hi, I speak Spanish too.
Mad Poster
#3 Old 18th Apr 2014 at 10:11 PM
So it's a sleep disorder now? Sounds pretty much like how I've been since I was 12-13 or thereabout... If I go to sleep before midnight, I usually can't sleep. If I get up before 10-11 am, my head does not work at all. My body seems happy with the 3-4am to noon-ish cycle I've had lately. Not sure if it's a disorder or just (a bad) habit, but to be honest it's not very bothersome. I've never been a morning person (only weekends when I was young enough to enjoy early kids' tv during weekends). I'm more of a night owl.

In their youths, people often have a later cicadian rhythm than when they get older. It does not have to be a disorder. Might just be a phase you'll eventually grow out of.

If you want to get out of it, try going to sleep 15-30 minutes earlier every night for as many days as you need, and wake up that much earlier as well. It's the kindest way to get into a better sleep rhythm. Also get 7-9 hours of sleep. Young people need more sleep, but not too much sleep. And don't sleep more than 10 hours. Also, having a steady rhythm is more important than having the "right" rhythm.
Former Hamster
retired moderator
#4 Old 18th Apr 2014 at 11:35 PM
I wouldn't get too hung up on it being called a disorder. My first thought, when starting to read the Wiki article, was "Since when has being a night owl been considered a problem/disorder?". Sure enough- reading further I ran into this: "People with DSPD can be called night owls". That's me. That's you. That's simmer22. That's 2 of my kids. According to my mom I was a night owl from birth. I've never understood how someone could be asleep by 10PM and up by 6AM.. not that I haven't done it, although it's more like 12AM/1AM to 6AM for me. I have and can if needed. (But it ain't easy! And I mean AIN'T.)

It does make it hard though. School and most jobs mean you have to be up and there early. As an adult I have it pretty easy- the field I generally work in (medical) means that I can find overnight work fairly easy. (Working overnight is my favorite, preferred shift!) You might very well grow out of it, but if you don't? Don't sweat it. Being a night owl isn't a bad thing, it just makes you a little bit quirky. For now, just make sure you're not getting worn out. Sleep extra on the weekends and holidays if you can, it does help.. even though it's said that you can't catch up on lost sleep.
Mad Poster
#5 Old 18th Apr 2014 at 11:57 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 19th Apr 2014 at 12:13 AM.
The most important when working night shifts or changing shifts is to have the shifts as steady as possible, so your rhythm isn't too different from day to day. If you do some weeks with only night shifts, then some weeks with only day/evening shifts, it should work fine, but if it's day/evening/off/day/evening/day/evening/day/off/night/night/off/day or some such for a while, you'll end up with health troubles. Working rapidly shifting shifts is worst for your health.

If I do day/evening/day/evening/day one week, my brain gets all mushy... And while I'm a night owl, I don't think my brain is night-owl enough to manage a full night shift. I've had a few, and by 4-5am, my brain starts turning itself off. By 6-7, I'm completely useless and can't even figure out how to operate a coffee maker. But oddly enough, if I get really into some 3D modeling or some other projects on my days off, I've kept going until 7-8am and still feeling more or less awake.

It's something with the quiet and the dark, I think. I notice it a lot better now when I've lived at my mom's place for a while. During the day there's always someone around, and things happening, and I either get easily distracted, or I simply can't concentrate. But at 10-11 PM it's usually silent with no one else around, and my brain starts working on full speed. I can sit working with a school assignment (or anything else, really) most of the day and barely get anything done, but then it starts getting dark, and suddenly I've done most of it in just a few hours. Most of the time I can only do robotic no-thinking-needed work during day time...

Anyway, to treat something things need to be a diagnosis with a code number, hence why it's named a sleep disorder. If it is bothersome and if you have troubles doing anything with it on your own, it's more of a disorder than if you don't feel you have to do anything about it. It may not be a "proper" sleep disorder applied to absolutely everyone, though. Some just like to live that way and are perfectly happy with having a different sleep cycle than what's "normal".
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#6 Old 19th Apr 2014 at 6:42 PM
Well, Piggypeach, it sounds like you have a crap sleeping rhythm (something you share with a lot of people) whereas that disorder description doesn't seem to fit you. It partially fits me and would have fitted me more closely when I was younger but ... well, actually, I have had problems with sleeping patterns and I can be very irregular when stressed (college was a very tiring period for me - I was exhausted when I finished (and I did post-grad as well as under-grad)). So much so, I saw my doctor about it. What finally helped for me was 1. being less stressed (even though I have a stressful job, I love it); 2. undertaking some of the sleep-hygiene measures suggested by my doctor; 3. buying one of these - expensive but worth every single penny IMO. I've been lucky, I think. I know plenty of people who suffer insomnia and it's not pretty (so I sympathise). I still find, despite now being able to sleep well for 6-7 hours per night, that if I go to bed before midnight, I will get off to sleep but will wake up between 1-2am and then can't sleep (and then I have a terrible day). So I go to bed around 1am and wake up between 7-8am. Works for me and I don't end up being tired all day long and have lots of energy.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Top Secret Researcher
#7 Old 20th Apr 2014 at 2:25 AM
Piggypeach, it seems that you may have been misdiagnosed but it's important to remember that sleep disorders can be extremely disruptive and have a negative impact on idividuals and their families. For people who suffer from them it's probably quite offensive to doubt the legitimacy of them, like telling a deppressed person that depression doesn't exist.

I think many people forget that everyone elses brain may not work the same as theirs. So what is true for you may not be true for others and vice versa.

There are probably many more people suffering from sleep disorders than we realise as people probably just put up with the symptoms or don't even realise they have a sleep disorder. My husband has some sort of parasomnia and wouldn't know most of the things he says/does if I wasn't there to tell him. It also affects me because I'm sometimes afraid he might accidentally hurt himself, me or our pets in his sleep.

I wouldn't put a lot of effort into getting it transported.
Instructor
Original Poster
#8 Old 24th Apr 2014 at 8:15 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simbalena
Piggypeach, it seems that you may have been misdiagnosed but it's important to remember that sleep disorders can be extremely disruptive and have a negative impact on idividuals and their families. For people who suffer from them it's probably quite offensive to doubt the legitimacy of them, like telling a deppressed person that depression doesn't exist.

I think many people forget that everyone elses brain may not work the same as theirs. So what is true for you may not be true for others and vice versa.

There are probably many more people suffering from sleep disorders than we realise as people probably just put up with the symptoms or don't even realise they have a sleep disorder. My husband has some sort of parasomnia and wouldn't know most of the things he says/does if I wasn't there to tell him. It also affects me because I'm sometimes afraid he might accidentally hurt himself, me or our pets in his sleep.

I did not mean to sound insensitive. Though I have doubts about the disorder itself by definition, in no way do I doubt the negative effects irregular sleep can have on one's life, and the extreme challenge it can pose on people, seeing this firsthand myself. I do not doubt their struggle, I only doubt it's classification. I have acknowledged that "other people's brains work differently than mine" and I have been doing a lot of research about this "particular" disorder (intentional quotes on particular rather than disorder) and the many, many different ways people are by sleep irregularities it seems like a very sloppy classification.

♫ She's got sunset on her breath, I inhaled just a little bit now I got no fear of death ♫
 
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