Posted by cache-monkey on January 2, 2005, at 12:12:42
In reply to need help getting sleep schedule back to normal, posted by MichaelJr on January 2, 2005, at 3:18:53
"So my sleep schedule is atrocious. It's about 3:15 right now, and I won't be tired until about 9 am. I have tried sleep pills, staying awake all day and trying to shock my system back to normal, but nothing has really helped. Luckily I just finished college and have no real obligations, but that may be part of the problem. This has cost me a job, and I missed a fair amount of classes last semester because of my schedule. I've been on this inverted schedule for about 6 months now, and am really at a lost as to what to do. any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated."
I think what you have is "Delayed Phase Sleep Syndrome." Basically your circadian rhythms are totally out of sync with a "normal" sleep cycle. This happened to me, albeit to a lesser extent, last year. This could partially be a function of depression/anxiety (?) -- at least it was so for me. If that's the case, a medication might prove beneficial.
But another route you might consider trying is light therapy, which has been clinically shown to help reset circadian rhythms. It can also be of some benefit for depression, particularly of the seasonal variety. Apollo Health is one of the gold-standard places for light systems:
http://www.apollolight.com/I believe that Apollo's products are the ones most frequently used in clinical studies of light therapy. I got one of their portable products (the goLITE P1) fairly cheaply through Costco. I'm still assessing what and how much it's doing for me, but I think I'm a little more awake after using it and am having an easier time falling asleep earlier. You might want to search/post for other people's experiences with light therapy -- either here or on the Alternative board.
Good luck,
cache-monkey
poster:cache-monkey
thread:436692
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041228/msgs/436786.html