I had my evaluation appointment at the ECU School of Medicine sleep disorders lab this morning. I was there about an hour. I came home with a followup appointment in three weeks, a stack of information to read, a Tyvek patient-identification bracelet around my left wrist ... and for the first time, a diagnosis: Delayed sleep-phase syndrome.
Delayed sleep phase syndrome results from a desynchronization between the patient's internal biological clock and the external environment. Unlike jet lag, this desynchronization is not activated by travel or change in external environment. Rather, the patient's propensity to fall asleep is simply "delayed" in relation to that of the general public. Subsequently, a patient with DSPS is desynchronized with the routine that governs most of his or her life.
Patients typically are unable to fall asleep before 2 a.m. and have extreme difficulty waking early (e.g., by 7 a.m.). People with DSPS are sometimes called "night owls" or are described as "not being morning people." If they are able to sleep a full 7 to 8 hours (e.g., until 10 a.m.), they feel rested and function normally. Unfortunately, this is usually not the case.
I've been unable to get a decent night's sleep as far back as I can remember -- at least since I was 11 or 12. Now that I finally have a diagnosis, maybe I can make some progress dealing with it. According to the above-referenced site, light-box therapy is one of the most common treatments.