Four Important Truths About Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

To optimize my bedroom for sleeping, I keep the decor simple with a focus on comfort. And yes, that includes a bowl of fresh water in the corner for my favorite redhead. 

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome is not insomnia.

Insomniacs toss and turn through restless nights filled with sporadic and shallow sleep. No matter how hard they try, insomniacs rarely get a good night's sleep.

But for us Delayed Sleep Phasers, it's only when we force ourselves to go to bed before we are sleepy that we struggle to fall asleep. When we can go to bed and get up according to our own inner clocks, we doze off quickly, sleep well, and wake up refreshed.

I often find dried leaves and tiny bits of twig among my white blankets, but this is the price I pay for Gracie's five a.m. breakfast run under my husband's supervision. 

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome is not the same thing as being a "night owl."

True night owls stay up late even when their inner clock tells them they should be going to bed. As a general rule, night owls forfeit sleep for fun and pay the price the next day when they are sleep-starved during their normal work hours.

We Delayed Sleep Phasers use the late night and early morning hours to accomplish meaningful tasks. By making good use of our most creative and productive hours, we get done at night what other people do during the day.

I may spend hours looking at gorgeously styled nightstands online, but mine is strictly edited down to basics. And yes, I do consider a miniature brass owl and a pink potted plant to be essential to a good night slash morning's sleep. 

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome  cannot be "fixed" or cured.

The internet is full to the brim with tips on how to be an early riser. With time, determination, and a huge amount of sticktoitiveness, Delayed Sleep Phasers can indeed force themselves to operate on a more conventional sleep schedule.

I should know. I've been doing that for all my life.

But here's the truth. We can manipulate our sleep habits but we can never reset our internal sleep clocks. They are biologically determined by our DNA and therefore completely impervious to change.

In addition to our internal sleep clocks, our bodies' various systems function according to their own internal clocks, all linked together and mutually dependent. When we disobey our bodies' sleep demands, we throw the entire networked system out of alignment, and trouble quickly ensues.

Depression,
obesity,
and diabetes

are at the top of the list.

Sleeping at the wrong time will literally make you sick, and Delayed Sleep Phasers who try to "fix" their biological sleep cycles put their health in serious jeopardy.

The art on my bedroom walls came from inside my head, and helps me relax and wind down. 

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome sleepers face judgment and shame, especially in American culture. 

Early risers are valued as virtuous and good.
Those who sleep in are considered lazy.

There's no arguing with that perceived truth. Other cultures embrace more fluid sleep schedules, especially those in the tropics, but in the United States, we have long equated earliness with goodness and lateness with contempt.

All through my life, I've struggled with this shame. Mostly, I've tried to hide my late sleeping hours by clearing my throat extra carefully before taking those 9 a.m. phone calls, or scrambling to throw on sweats and splash water on my face when the doorbell rings unexpectedly.

The few times that I have tried to explain my sleeping habits to family or friends, raised eyebrows and clucked tongues have quickly shut me down. Very few people have ever understood.

* * * * *

But I'm done with feeling shame and judgment. I'm ready to fight the good fight, people, and I will keep explaining till the world understands what Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome is all about.