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Narcolepsy – Definition, Symptoms, and Treatment

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Narcolepsy is a neurological sleep disorder that causes extreme daytime drowsiness, despite a sufficient amount of sleep. It is commonly known for the symptom in which patients unconsciously fall asleep in the middle of the day, even while occupied in daily tasks. According to the Cleveland Clinic, narcolepsy affects one in every two thousand American adults.

narcoleptic runner sleep workout

But there is an important distinction between feeling excess tiredness during your day and getting a diagnosis of a disorder. Learning the causes and symptoms of narcolepsy can help you decide if you should speak to a doctor about a possible checkup.

What Is Narcolepsy?

Narcolepsy is defined as a disorder affecting the brain’s control of the sleep-wake cycle. People with narcolepsy may experience the following symptoms:

  • Extreme tiredness during daytime hours: Even when you’ve had a good night’s sleep, you might feel very tired out of the blue. Feelings of overwhelming exhaustion can come with little warning, no matter the activity you are engaged in.
  • Falling asleep spontaneously: This follows the extreme tiredness that defines narcolepsy. You can fall asleep any time, anywhere, with little warning. These periods of sleep range from a few minutes to half an hour at a time, and regularly happen many times a day.
  • Sudden muscle weakness or paralysis (Cataplexy): Cataplexy can bring other symptoms of narcolepsy. They are usually triggered by strong emotions, both negative and positive. You will be unable to control certain muscles or even your entire body for minutes at a time. It is often misdiagnosed as a seizure disorder. Interestingly, NIH notes that the signs of cataplexy are similar to the conditions the body undergoes during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.
  • Sleep paralysis: Similar to cataplexy, sleep paralysis renders the patient temporarily paralyzed while fully conscious. The difference is that sleep paralysis affects people who are falling asleep, waking up, or in some realm of the “edge of sleep.”
  • Hallucinations: Genuine, clear visual hallucinations are common during periods of narcoleptic sleep paralysis. They can be scary, and can sometimes include audible elements as well. Hypnagogic hallucinations happen when someone is beginning to fall asleep. Hypnopompic hallucinations can occur when a person is starting to wake up. Typically, the hallucinations normally last only a few moments.

What Causes Narcolepsy?

child falling asleep during school

Though we don’t know the exact causes of narcolepsy, scientists have linked the disorder to the neuropeptide hypocretin. Orexin helps to regulate our wakefulness and sleep. In patients suffering from narcolepsy with symptoms of cataplexy (known as Type I narcolepsy), there is likely to be extremely low levels of detectable hypocretin.

Hypocretin is especially important in controlling REM sleep. Many of the symptoms of narcolepsy, including cataplexy and sleep paralysis most notably, seem to mimic the actions of our body during REM sleep. Furthermore, the Mayo Clinic explains that narcoleptics seem to enter REM sleep much more quickly than the average sleeper.

There is a greater risk of developing the disorder if anyone in your family already has it. Scientists also link narcolepsy to autoimmune dysfunction and even the H1N1 flu. More research is being conducted to understand what causes Type 2 narcolepsy.

Testing for the disorder

People typically begin to feel the symptoms of narcolepsy when they are young, anywhere from 7 to 25 years old. Usually, the first symptoms to show are excessive daytime sleepiness, which can often be dismissed as simple day-to-day tiredness. However, symptoms will likely advance if left untreated.

If you are concerned that you might be feeling symptoms of narcolepsy, there are several tests that can be done to determine a diagnosis. If the usual in-depth analysis of your medical and sleep histories suggests you might have the disorder, doctors will proceed to administer two tests:

  • Polysomnogram (PSG): Also known as a “sleep study,” this overnight test is typically administered in a sleep clinic. Doctors will monitor your brain and muscle activity, eye movements, and breathing during the night. The data they record, especially about the timing and length of your sleep cycles, will help them rule out other sleep disorders as the cause of your symptoms.
    • Falling into REM sleep early in the night is a good indicator that you may be suffering from Type 1 narcolepsy (narcolepsy with cataplexy). Type 1 includes extreme tiredness during the day, cataplexy, and in extreme cases sleep paralysis, and even hallucinations.
  • Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT): Immediately following a PSG, patients are asked to take a series of daytime naps under direct doctor supervision. The speed at which they fall asleep and enter the REM stage of the sleep cycle can be used to make a diagnosis of narcolepsy.

Pending the results of these two tests, and especially if patients exhibit symptoms of cataplexy, doctors may follow up with a spinal tap test. This helps to determine the amount of hypocretin in the patient’s spinal fluid. Low levels of the neuropeptide are a strong indicator of Type 2 narcolepsy.

Treatments for Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a disorder for which there is no cure, though symptoms seem to decline over time. Managing the symptoms of narcolepsy is a lifelong challenge that requires vital changes to lifestyle, and significant help from family or friends.

The NIH lists a few medications which have shown promise in treating the symptoms of narcolepsy:

  • Modafinil: A low-level nervous system stimulant that helps improve alertness and reduce drowsiness.
  • Amphetamines and other stimulants: Stronger than modafinil, these can be effective at combating sleepiness during the day. Though it is important to monitor patients using these drugs for significant side effects, ranging from irritability to heart conditions.
  • Some types of antidepressants: These may be effective in combating cataplexy, and pose fewer risks than amphetamines.
  • Sodium oxybate (Xyrem®): This extremely strong sedative is prescribed to treat cataplexy and daytime drowsiness.

man with narcolepsy sleeping at the office

Additionally, the following lifestyle changes can be extremely effective for people with narcolepsy on a day-to-day basis:

  • Take regular short naps throughout the day
  • Avoid caffeine and alcohol before bed
  • Keep a regular sleep cycle and maintain good sleep hygiene
  • Don’t eat heavy meals right before bed
  • Avoid smoking, especially in the evenings

Your Sleep Guide to Dreaming

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There isn’t a more mysterious, more hotly debated, or more baffling activity of the human brain. For as long as we have been sleeping, we have been dreaming. For just as long, we have been theorizing and experimenting and wondering just how and why our brains take us on those strange nighttime journeys.

Dreaming 101

Some say they are a reflection of the unconscious—famously, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung built immense psychological theories around that idea. The odd symbolism we encounter when dreaming can sometimes feel like it has roots in our everyday life.

“The dream is a sort of substitution for those emotional and intellectual trains of thought”
-Sigmund Freud

But what do we know for sure about dreaming? In recent years, and especially since the advancement of modern neurological monitoring techniques, scientists know more than ever about what is really going on in our heads when we enter a dream state.

Man in bed daydreaming

What exactly are dreams?

We all know what it feels like to have one. There is the feeling of awakeness, that you are moving around in the world interacting as if you weren’t in bed asleep. Often there are little bits of strangeness to the scenarios we encounter. Symbolism, unreality, and emotional response are all common elements of imagination.

Early interpretations of their meaning were rooted in the idea that during sleep, humans were able to bridge some gap between two worlds. That idea later morphed into the Freudian concept of dreams being a portal into the unconscious mind. In both cases, dreams were seen as a way to experience some revelatory journey of meaning for the dreamer–a play of sorts designed to discern deeper meaning in our lives.

Today, scientists view them as more of an intentional act of our physical body than a passive experience for our mind. Modern technology, especially the EEG machine and discovery of sleep cycles, has allowed us to peer into the dreaming brain to discover a tremendous amount of neurological activity taking place.

What happens when we dream?

In many ways, your nighttime brain activity is simply one more piece of the complicated process of recovery which our brains undergo every night when we sleep. As we move through the sleep cycle and our brain moves from one task to another, we actually experience different types of fantasies, suggesting that our imagined experiences are linked directly to our brain activity.

During non-REM sleep, studies have shown that people do have dreams, though they are often more like hazy memories than crazy fantasies. These dreams are also much more difficult to remember, even if one is woken up right in the middle of it.

During this phase of sleep, brain activity in the hippocampus is focused on memory consolidation, or the process of taking processed experiences from the day and turning them into long-term memories. It may be the case that non-REM dreams are somehow a consequence of that function.

Woman smiling and dreamingScientists have linked the most vivid, bizarre and memorable types of dreams to REM (rapid eye movement) phase of the sleep cycle. This is likely related to the fact that REM sleep brings the highest levels of brain activity compared to any other phase. Scientists believe it is during this part of our sleep cycle that information from the day is processed so that it can later be transferred to long term memory during non-REM sleep.

Interestingly, this phase of the sleep cycle is also characterized by several physical changes, including most notably the back and forth pacing of the eyes, mixed with the relaxation of muscles elsewhere in the body. It has been theorized that this kind of intentional paralysis is intended to prevent our bodies from physically acting out our dreams.

Why do we dream?

Even though scientists have come a long way in breaking down the neurological characteristics of how we dream, the truth is that we are still not exactly sure why we dream.

Many believe, as discussed above, that dreaming is simply a by-product of the information organizing and storage processes that parts of the brain engage in as we sleep. Under this logic, dreams are a kind of abstract lens through which to view the content our brain is trying to codify and store for future use.

Another school of thought, called “threat simulation theory,” holds that our ability to dream evolved over time as a way to help us protect ourselves from threats in our environment. Scientists in this camp believe that dreams are an exercise of sorts, a kind of “dry-run” our minds can engage with and can practice reacting to threatening situations and themes.

Some sleep researchers still believe in dreams as manifestations of the Freudian subconscious and think that dreams provide our minds the ability to grapple with complex or troubling emotional concepts in an abstracted way.

All of these theories illustrate the lack of consensus in the community about dreaming’s value to the individual. But the good news is that research continues at a steady pace in this field. Much of that research will likely be published in the scientific journal dedicated entirely to the subject, aptly named Dreaming.

lady sleeping and smiling

Can sleep be productive?

Absolutely! Regardless of which theory you subscribe to, it is clear that all of them play a role in the idea that dreams have the ability to help us process complicated information. With that said, here are a few tricks to try and make the most out of your dreams:

  • Maintain a healthy sleep cycle: Good sleep hygiene will help ensure that you are getting to dream in the first place. Getting plenty of exercise, avoiding screens before bed, and limiting your alcohol and drug consumption will increase the likelihood that you move between the sleep cycles naturally.
  • Think about a problem you’d like to solve as you drift off: If you’ve ever been faced with a problem or difficult decision, you’ve likely been advised by someone, at some point, to “sleep on it.” There’s a reason this advice has endured. A good night’s sleep can be just what you need to come up with creative solutions to problems big or small. Try contemplating the situation at hand as you fall asleep and it’ll increase the chances that your brain will incorporate those concepts into your dreams. But if it is a problem that you’re meditating on, It’s important not to stress about it, as that may make it more difficult to fall asleep.
  • Keep a dream journal close to your bed: It can be hard to remember your dreams if you don’t write them down as soon as you wake up. The more time you spend trying to remember dreams, the better you become at it.
  • Try taking a nap: Short naps can be sneaky ways to hack our brain into lucid dreams. The secret to becoming a lucid dreamer lies in our tendency to fall into REM sleep quickly when napping— especially if we missed out on it the night before.

Insomnia: Definition, Causes, and Symptoms

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About Insomnia

Most of us have experienced the frustration of a sleepless night. Whether it’s tossing and turning, lying still with racing thoughts, or burying our faces in pillows to no avail, failing to get the proper amount of sleep can be devastating for our wellness and productivity. But even though everyone has the occasional hard time catching Z’s, continuous problems under the sheets could be a far more sinister sleep syndrome: insomnia.

Woman with insomnia can not sleep at night

An ongoing lack of sleep caused by insomnia can lead to serious problems in daily life, especially if the period of insomnia lasts more than a few days.

Educating yourself on the causes, symptoms, and treatments for insomnia is an important first step to reclaiming healthy sleep patterns.

What exactly is insomnia?

Most people know insomnia means not being able to get to sleep. But it’s actually a bit more complicated than that.

According to the Mayo Clinic, insomnia refers to short-term (acute) or long-term (chronic) problems falling asleep, staying asleep, and waking up too early. All of these types of sleep disruption interfere with your ability to get the recommended 7 hours of sleep per night, causing feelings of mild to extreme tiredness among other complications. Insomnia is incredibly common, affecting almost one in three adults across the world population according to some studies.

What causes insomnia?

The factors that cause insomnia vary. It can sometimes arise as a condition on its own, but more is more usually a symptom of other issues facing a patient.

Some of the most common triggers of insomnia are:

  • General stress
  • Chronic pain
  • Mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety
  • Allergies
  • Neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease
  • High blood pressure
  • A traumatic event causing psychic distress
  • Acid reflux and other gastrointestinal ailments

Many medications taken for common conditions like colds, asthma, depression, and thyroid disease can also cause insomnia as a side effect. Birth control medication has been known to trigger insomnia as well.

Additionally, insomnia is also linked to other sleep disorders.

Restless leg syndrome, characterized by the urge to move the legs in order to relieve discomfort, often intensifies at night and causes insomnia when patients continuously shift in bed. Sleep apnea, a much more serious condition relating to the respiratory system where breathing repeatedly stops and starts in the night, is also a known cause of insomnia.

Tired woman sitting on bed

What are the symptoms?

As is noted above, insomnia refers to several general patterns of sleep disruption that can interfere with a normal sleep cycle. Acute insomnia lasts for days or weeks, while chronic insomnia can last for months or even years. Whether acute or chronic, the effects can be devastating in one’s personal and professional life. The Mayo Clinic lists the symptoms of insomnia as follows:

  • Trouble falling asleep at night  (Read our 8 tips for better sleep)
  • Waking up during the night
  • Waking up too early
  • Not feeling well-rested after a night’s sleep
  • Daytime tiredness or sleepiness
  • Irritability, depression or anxiety
  • Difficulty paying attention, focusing on tasks or remembering
  • Increased errors or accidents
  • Ongoing worries about sleep

Symptoms generally worsen the longer the period of insomnia lasts. This makes chronic insomnia an especially troublesome condition to deal with.

Man with Insomnia at office

How to cure insomnia?

Because there are many forms, there is no silver bullet for treating the disorder. Depending on the severity of a patient, there are many different methods for achieving healthy sleep patterns. The most important key to treating insomnia is addressing the underlying cause of the condition.

With that being said, there are several treatment methods that don’t necessarily involve medications.

Lifestyle Changes

Making adjustments to your daily habits, rituals, and patterns can help you optimize your chances of getting good sleep. Some simple changes include

  • Limiting caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol intake, especially in the afternoon and evening
  • Exercising daily, though not too late in the evening
  • Not eating full meals close to bedtime
  • Daily meditation in the evening

Sleep Cycle Changes

Fundamentally changing your sleep habits can also be effective in achieving better sleep. Some of those changes could include

  • Attempting to stay on a regular sleep schedule helps your circadian system in sync (going to bed and waking at the same time every day)
  • Limiting exposure to electronic screens and light in the evening, especially when in bed.
  • Using the bedroom for sleeping and sex only (no working on the computer from bed)
  • Avoiding long naps during the day

Sleep Therapy

If symptoms persist after healthy changes to sleep cycles and lifestyle are implemented, you may want to consider seeing a therapist to help with your insomnia. Since the causes of insomnia are often times psychological, therapists have developed several treatments aimed at higher risk individuals that address the thought patterns and consequent actions that lead to poor sleep.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CDT-I) helps patients develop healthy patterns for sleep using a variety of specialized components based on individual needs. These components can include

  • Sleep restriction therapy
  • Stimulus control therapy
  • Relaxation therapy / deep relaxation strategies
  • Hypnosis

Medication

If all else fails, there are medications that can temporarily help fight the condition. These medications are often less effective than CDT-I in the long term, and can also carry unwanted side effects. It is always recommended that you speak to your doctor before taking any new medication.

Some of the most common over-the-counter sleep medications include

  • Melatonin
  • Valerian root
  • Diphenhydramine (the active ingredient in Benadryl)
  • Doxylamine succinate (the active ingredient in Unisom)

Your doctor may also prescribe certain medications for insomnia if she or he feels that it is appropriate. Often times doctors will recommend making changes to your daily habits before they recommend this path. When they do, some of the most commonly prescribed drugs include

  • Antidepressants, which often help treat underlying issues of anxiety or depression
  • Benzodiazepines
  • Zolpidem (the active ingredient in Ambien)
  • Zaleplon (the active ingredient in Sonata)
  • Eszopiclone (the active ingredient in Lunesta)
  • Doxepin (the active ingredient in Silenor)

Are Naps Good For You?

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All About Napping

There’s nothing quite like giving in to your heavy eyelids and drifting off to sleep in the middle of the afternoon. Even if it’s just for a short time.

Young man napping on his couch at home in the living roomFrom carefree kids and overworked parents to even the family pets, it seems like everybody loves napping. In the United States, one in three adults have taken one in the last twenty-four hours, according to data from the Pew Research Center. Indeed, napping happens all over the world, among all age groups.

There’s the famous 20-minute power nap at work. The commute doze-off on the way to or from the office. The Sunday afternoon snooze. The list goes on and on.

Some say they are the unexpected “hack” that helps them be productive all day long. Others deride them as the vice of the lazy or unorganized—a bad way for those who don’t get their eight hours a night to play catch up.

But what does science say about naps? Are they really as good as they feel? Can they make us more productive? The answers might surprise you.

Are naps good for you?

The short answer to this is yes, under the right conditions. Napping is essentially “sleep lite;” when we do, we fall asleep faster and move through the stages of sleep just as we do at night, though we often jump more quickly into the type of sleep we need the most. When performed correctly (we will get into this later), they are one of the best ways not just to catch up on missed sleep, but also to get a myriad of other health benefits as well.

If you do it right, napping provides a ton of short-term benefits, such as:

  • Feeling less sleepy (duh)
  • Increased alertness
  • Improved cognitive functioning
  • Improved mood
  • Enhanced short-term memory
  • Improved psychomotor functioning (activities such as driving a car or playing an instrument)

There is also some evidence that napping may provide limited cardiovascular benefits, though more research must be done.

Are there downsides?

With all those benefits of napping, you might be wondering why we don’t take them even more.

For one, there are logistical obstacles to stealing the time and space for a quick snooze. Though there is a growing trend to allow employees to sleep at work, most people still find it difficult to fit into their schedule.

Even if you have some time and a comfortable place to close your eyes, effective napping is made all the more difficult by a concept referred to as sleep inertia in the scientific community. For the rest of us, this phenomenon is known as, “feeling extremely groggy when I wake up from a nap,” syndrome. Waking up can be as difficult as waking up in the morning if you fall into a deep sleep (especially slow-wave sleep), making the proper timing of a nap all the more important.

The Mayo Clinic also points out that some people might experience trouble sleeping during their nighttime sleep schedules or staying asleep after napping during the day. Though they don’t seem to affect most people in this way, but those who are prone to insomnia or with sleep disorders should avoid taking long naps regularly.

What does the perfect nap look like?

Young woman napping in parkAlthough there probably isn’t one “perfect” nap, there are certainly better naps for different needs. For example:

  • If you just need a quick afternoon pick me up: Anywhere from 5 minutes to 20 minutes should do the trick. At this length you are unlikely to experience severe sleep inertia, making your return to work easy, and you will experience the benefits of napping for about 3 hours.
  • If you want to prepare for a long night of work or play: Try taking a nap for an hour or two. You will definitely experience some sleep inertia grogginess after you wake up, but the benefits of your nap can stay with you for up to 24 hours afterwards. Just make sure you don’t need to be in a meeting (or operate heavy machinery) immediately after you wake up!
  • Something in between: If you just need a boost that will take you through the afternoon and evening but not all night, try sleeping for about 30 to 45 minutes. You will get a little bit of grogginess, but not much, and the benefits of your nap will last about 12 hours.

Tips for napping your best nap:

Now that you know the ups and downs of napping, here are a few extra tips to help set yourself up for the optimal nap experience:

Young woman napping in park

  1. Best time to nap: We all experience afternoon drowsiness. For those who rise early, that window is around 1 to 2 p.m. For late risers, that time is about an hour and a half later. Timing in this window will help you fall asleep quicker and avoid disrupting your nighttime sleep schedule.
  2. Decide what kind you need: Do you need a quick ten minutes? Or are you going to a rave later? Choose how long to nap, and set an alarm that gives you enough time to achieve the right amount of sleep.
  3. Choose the right place: Find a place where you won’t be disturbed. Get yourself comfortable, and try to darken your environment (a sleep mask works great if you can’t dim the lights).
  4. Give yourself plenty of time to wake up: Make sure that you are aware of the things you have to do when you wake up. It’s not the best idea to drag yourself into an important presentation five minutes after waking up from a two-hour nap. Shorter is better for the workplace, as they make you less drowsy when you wake up.
  5. Take notes and improve: After trying these techniques for a while, you should begin to find a rhythm that allows you to take effective naps depending on your personal lifestyle. Make sure to pay attention to how you sleep in the evenings following naps. If you find it difficult to sleep in the evening, you may be sleeping too much during the day.

What Is the Circadian System?

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man sitting outside daytime circadian rhythm

When you awake at dawn or grow sleepy in the evening, more is at work than a lifetime of habit. Underpinning our bodies’ and our brains’ sleep-wake cycle is a complex regulatory apparatus known as the Circadian System, and it is responsible for keeping us biologically in tune with the world around us.

In our modern world of hectic schedules, artificial light, and information overload, knowing what the circadian system is, and how it works, can help you achieve better sleep patterns and a more well-adjusted life.

Circadian System: Sleep Rhythm Explained

The circadian system might be better explained by talking about the more well-known concept: the “circadian” rhythm. This is the daily internal clock or cycle of sorts that our body keeps. An approximately 24-hour cycle in which our body moves in and out of sleep and wakefulness depending on the time of day. This circadian clock is maintained by the circadian system, which draws cues from the environment to make sure that our internal clock is set to keep aligned with the outside world.

Specifically, it is the light-dark cycle of night and day that helps us regulate our own biological clocks. Most species operate on some version of this internal clock, though not all regulate their own sleeping times and wake cycles in the same way humans do. For example, nocturnal animals rely on their internal rhythms to be alert during the evening and seek sleep during sunlight hours.

The circadian systems are ancient and have interested biologists for centuries. Staying in sync with these natural circadian cycles in our environment as night turns into day, and vice versa, continues to award us a massive evolutionary advantage for all species. The study of the circadian systems is chronobiology.

How Does Circadian System work?

Chronobiologists have a remarkably clear understanding of how the circadian system works in human beings. Here is a brief overview of how it functions.

In the human brain, a collection of over 20,000 neurons make up a structure called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). The SCN is the most important part of our internal clock. It works with a variety of other brain structures to interpret external signals from the environment into physiological outputs such as hormone production, digestion, body temperature and more.

Light is the most crucial of these cues. It enters through the eyes before moving through the optic nerves to the hypothalamus, where the SCN is located. When there is a great deal of light in our environment, the SCN interprets this as daytime and regulates our bodies accordingly by raising body temperature, releasing stimulating hormones and other functions. When there is no light present, the SCN assumes that it is evening and works with other brain structures to prepare for sleep and its associated neurological activities.

A key component of the night-time cycle is the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates drowsiness.

The changes to our physiology stimulated by the SCN influence our behaviors to keep us in tune with the natural day-night cycle of the earth. However, as anyone who has moved between time zones will tell you, the circadian system often requires a period of adjustment to sync up to dramatic shifts in the cycle. Also known as Jet-Lag.

There is even evidence that the circadian system continues to operate in the absence of the typical environment cues like light. That suggests that there is a somewhat ingrained quality to the 24-hour cycle we rely on.

man at nighttime with blue light effecting circadian system

Sleep Disorders and the circadian system

Sleep patterns are clearly linked to the circadian system and the rhythms it produces. The times we feel sleepy and active are in part rooted in our bodies’ interpretations of what time of day it is. In this respect, when our circadian system isn’t functioning properly, it can have dramatic consequences for our sleep health.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, some of the most common disorders relating to sleep patterns and the circadian system include:

  • Jetlag: Though this “disorder” is temporary, it is probably the most common circadian related sleep problem. It results from a conflict between the body’s internal clock, and cues from the environment which are shifted when you move between time zones. This can result in difficulty getting to sleep, and sleepiness during waking hours of the day. In time, your body will adjust to new environmental cues on its own.
  • Narcolepsy: The symptoms of this disorder, which include excessive daytime sleepiness and spontaneous onset of sleep, are thought to arise from problems with the sleep-wake cycle and circadian system function.
  • Shift Work Disorder: Shift work disorder can occur when an individual works non-daytime hours, and especially when they intersperse shifts in both the night and day. Patients can experience insomnia and disturbances when they try to sleep, and excess drowsiness during waking hours.
  • Delayed and Advanced Sleep Disorder: Both of these disorders refer to abnormal timeframes for sleeping and waking.
    • Delayed sleep disorder sees patients falling asleep very late at night and waking up very late the next day. It is most common in adolescents and young adults.
    • Advanced sleep disorder is the opposite. This disorder results in patients falling asleep very early in the evening, and waking extremely early in the morning. Typically only affecting older adults.

Hacking your system for better sleep

Here are a few tips that will help you work with your internal clock to achieve the best possible sleep:

  • Avoid artificial lights at night: Any light that is not sunlight can trick your body into thinking it’s not quite time for sleep. Try to avoid being in artificially bright environments before bed. This also means not using electronics like computers, phones, and tablets, or television in the hours before you sleep.
  • Establish a regular sleep schedule: The more you can keep your waking and sleeping hours regular, the easier it will be for your body to establish the good sleep patterns and move through the stages of sleep better. This doesn’t just mean trying to sleep and rise at the same times each day, but also choosing when to expose yourself to light, the most important circadian cue. This is especially important if you work irregular hours.
  • Some medications can help adjust your circadian system: Melatonin and other sleep-regulating drugs can help you to adjust your sleep schedule as desired. This is especially effective for adjusting to jet lag. Use under doctor supervision, and in coordination with other behavioral changes.