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Several years ago a mother, father and their 17-year-old son came to our sleep clinic to discuss the son's "sleeping problem." A senior in high school, the teenager had missed about 50 percent of his first period classes and was in danger of failing. According to his mother, the problem was simple: "He cannot get up in time for school."
His father was less concerned. Dad believed the problem was also simple -- his son was a "slacker" and just needed to go to bed on time. Weeks before their appointment, the son's sleep problems had resulted in a somewhat tumultuous home situation with the police having to break up a family disturbance. Dad, tired of trying unsuccessfully to wake up his "slacker" son each morning, threw a bucket of ice water on him. Obviously shocked (and cold), the son jumped out of bed and began punching his father, while mom looked on and called 911.
Not all presentations of this scenario are quite so dramatic, but many do involve family discord. After obtaining a complete sleep history, it was apparent that this young man was not lazy or oppositional -- he had Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS).
DSPS is a circadian rhythm disorder affecting the timing of the brain's sleep-wake clock. Individuals with DSPS are unable to fall asleep earlier than their usual sleep time, despite being sleep deprived from staying up the night before.
DSPS is a disorder that affects 7-16 percent of children and teenagers. The causes of DSPS have not been confirmed although most sleep specialists believe it may be an exaggerated reaction to the normal shift in internal clocks that adolescents experience during puberty.
Most of us have an internal clock that runs slightly longer than 24 hours, resulting in a natural tendency to delay sleep. Environmental factors such as social routines, timing of meals and exposure to light serve to reset the clock to keep it stable. Sensitivity to environmental factors that regulate the sleep-wake cycle may be attenuated in adolescence. DSPS often runs in families, so if you were a night owl during your teenage years, your son or daughter may inherit a similar sleep pattern.
11 hours ago (11:56 AM)
Why has everything became a ‘disorder’? Maybe the boy needs to go to bed at 8PM. This is one sick or disorders country anymore.
7 hours ago (3:44 PM)
Sabra Bruning – I am wondering if you have had an actual Sleep Study done to determine WHY you are not sleeping.
There are many good Sleep Centers around the country – perhaps you have OSA (Obstructive Sleep Anea) which is basically where you stop breathing during the night, your body then realizes its NOT getting any oxygen, and you wake up for a split second to take a breath, then go instantly back to sleep. This disruption of sleep will leave you exhausted in the mornings, with dry mouth (breathing through your mouth at night) you may also have Restless Leg Syndrome or something similar – and experience chronic tiredness during the day.
Please, go and get a sleep study done. If you DO have OSA it can usually be treated with a CPAP machine -
8 hours ago (3:17 PM)
Also……….IF YOU ARE GETTING UP MANY TIMES/NUMEROUS TIMES
IN ORDER TO GO TO THE BATHROOM (But it seems like water, not urine)
YOU MAY HAVE DIABETES INSIPIDUS.
It’s not diabetes at all but a sleep disorder or leads to massive sleep deprivation
due to getting up all night.
I’ve had it for a very long, long time and it is deadly because
the body is just slowly, slowly falling apart/dying.
Awful to not sleep. And then have people preach at you about
all the reasons why….
8 hours ago (3:24 PM)
Actually, the schedule adjustment advise is wrong. Advising people that have DSPS to go to bed 15 minutes earlier each night doesn’t work. The problem is that they can not fall asleep until 2 am. How is laying in bed 15 minutes earlier each night going to work? The actual schedule adjustment treatment is to have them stay up 15 minutes later each night until they reach the desired sleep time. Obviously the best time for a teenager is during summer break.
5 hours ago (5:53 PM)
i am a peasant …..my true calling was being a conscious player in the stock market …making abillion dollars selling noflush composting toilets in India was also a possibility
i trust this a helpful comment.
disorder is lack of order …. lack of order is lack of pure spirituality integrated in neurophysiology!
no doubt this is even more helpfull.
…at this satge in human history any PHD who doesnt recommend meditation for any socalled disorder is not a PHD
Transcendental meditation (TM) [ qualifies for CME credits ] is the beginning of any healing or normalization.
the complete solution is Maharishi ayurveda [ accepted as CME credit for MDs ] and
maharishi sthapatya veda architecture and planning [ green and cosmic architecture in accord with natural law, to resolve the environment component]
3 hours ago (8:12 PM)
Sleep disorder my arse. Instill appropriate bed time routines when young and it will continue. Set some ground rules that include no phone calls, computers, video games, text messaging, hanging out (ever heard of a curfew?) etc. after a set time at night, even if it means taking the items away.
I do not allow anyone to call me after 8:30PM unless it’s an absolute emergency (like a family member has been in an accident and has been rushed to the hospital) and I’m an adult. When my kids decide they want to stay up late at night, I purposely wake them up early the next morning and make them do things (I’ve been known to wake them at 6AM knowing full well they didn’t go to sleep until 3 or 4) and never allow them to be late to school because they were "too tired". Simply put, every action has a consequence; teenagers need to be taught that and deal with it.
Society is too busy trying to adjust to people’s bad choices instead of people adjusting themselves to societal norms. High schools starting later to accommodate teenagers who refuse to arrive to school on time only encourages more poor time management skills on the part of teens.
2 hours ago (9:10 PM)
Smoke a bowl, I cant sleep before 2 or 3 am a lot, but a lil pot and im out like a rock.
2 hours ago (9:11 PM)
im 17 i go to sleep at 10:00 and wake up at 6:00 and when i get home i immediately take a afternoon nap is that bad, plus i sleep in 1st period?