Information On Sleep Disorders Among Teenagers

Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder, also known as DNS is a type of sleep disorders among teenagers which are believed affecting between seven to ten percent of teenagers. This disorder are mostly outgrown by most teenagers by the time they reach young adulthood. Below one percent of adults are conceived to have DSP. In addition, many people often have mistakes sleep disorder for insomnia.

A great deal of people with delayed sleep phase disorder are named to as night owls. This is because if allowed to be on their own, they would stay up till really late, some of the times until 4 or 5 a.m. They like to get up really late in the morning or early afternoon.

Some of the times, a lot of teenagers like to stay up late and sleep in in the morning because they prefer to socialize at that time of the day. Or perhaps, it can also be due to the natural delay in the circadian sleep / wake rhythm at their age of development.

One of this sleep disorders symptoms is when teenagers often have a very hard time getting up in the morning for school. Even if they go to sleep at a regular time, such as 11 p.m., they toss and turn for hours like someone with insomnia. The difference is, unlike an insomniac, people with delayed sleep phase disorder have no difficulty staying asleep. They do have a very difficult time getting up early in the morning. Sleep disorders among teenagers usual make the teenagers very tired during the day and may even fall asleep in the classroom. The definite cause of this sleep disorder is not known. It is known for certain that it is a circadian rhythm problem.

Sleep disorder treatments are available for people that need to get onto a more traditional sleep / wake schedule. The types of treatment include, bright light, chronotherapy, melatonin and over- the-counter prescribed sleeping pills.

One form of sleep disorder treatments are the bright light treatment for delayed sleep phase disorder uses bright light to trick the brain’s circadian clock . Exposure to bright light shifts the circadian rhythm if it is administered within a few hours of the body’s lowest temperature at night.

Chronotherapy has been used as sleep disorder treatments for someone with delayed sleep phase disorder requires a block of time one week long. Each day bedtime is delayed by three hours successively. For instance, for someone that falls asleep at 2 a.m. but wants to fall asleep at 11. p.m., their bedtime would move to 5 a.m. on the first day. The next day it would move to 8 a.m. and continue this cycle for a week. Sleep disorders among teenagers can be quite serious where in some cases, teenagers suffering with delayed sleep phase disorder would need a week off from school in order to complete this therapy. Once the desired bed time is reached it is very important to keep a consistent wake up time.

There are several sleep disorder treatments involving various drugs that are used to treat delayed sleep phase disorder. Melatonin has been successful in changing the sleep cycle of people with this sleep disorder. Prescription medication such as Ramelteon, and other sleeping pills, have been successful in treating teenagers and adults with delayed sleep phase disorder.

Parents and teachers ought to be informed of sleep disorders among teenagers so that they are more observant with the sleep disorders symptoms so that sleep disorder treatments may be looked for. Furthermore, if your teenager has problem nodding off and forever would like to stay up late, be mindful of the theory that a sleep disorder may be present.

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