What is Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder, and how can you treat it?
Sleep disorders like advanced sleep phase disorder (ASPD) are often thought of as an inconvenience. But if you suffer from them, it can be life-changing. Disrupted sleep can impact every aspect of your life. Sometimes, they can make it impossible for you to function correctly regarding study, work, etc.
Circadian rhythm disorders refer to sleep problems where your sleep pattern is out of sync with your lifestyle. Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder is unusual in that it primarily affects us as we age. With around 1% of Australians suffering from this sleep disorder, it is a relatively rare problem. However, it can cause significant issues, so there’s a need to understand what ASPD is.
What is Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder?
While circadian rhythm disorders manifest in several ways, for advanced sleep phase syndrome, this means a rather specific problem. This Circadian rhythm disorder means your sleep clock is ahead of your life needs. That is, your body wants to sleep earlier than fits your life. For example, you may feel like sleeping from 8 pm until 3 or 4 am the next day. Then, you will be unable to get back to sleep.
For most people, this is an issue. You will find yourself awake when your family is asleep and asleep while they are awake. This disrupts your life and can affect your work and everything else you do.
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
Who’s more likely to suffer from a Circadian Rhythm disorder?
We primarily associate sleep disorders with younger age groups. However, circadian sleep disorders can affect anyone. Younger people most often suffer from delayed sleep phase disorder. This means that their sleep pattern is later than they would like. They can’t get to sleep until much later in the night than most, and then they need to sleep later in the morning to compensate.
But Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder seems to affect you as you age. You are most likely to suffer from it in middle age and older. However, while it is more likely to hit you as you age, it can still affect anyone. Even younger people can find they have the symptoms.
What symptoms would a person with Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome likely display?
The physical aspect of having advanced sleep phase disorder is apparent. You sometimes feel uncontrollably tired early in the evening, as soon as 7 pm, and need to sleep. You then wake up early, wide awake and unable to get back to sleep.
This leads to other issues, too. Disrupted sleep patterns can tire you during the day at work or while studying. It can affect relationships and make having a social life very difficult. Over a more extended period, it can lead to depression.
Like most sleep disorders, the exact causes of advanced sleep phase disorder are not fully clear. Research is ongoing but remains a challenge. This is compounded by problems identifying this specific circadian rhythm disorder at all. It is often misdiagnosed as insomnia, and that can mean the wrong approach to dealing with it.
At the heart of the problem is disruption to your internal body clock. This part of the brain typically prepares your body for sleep between 10 pm and 11 pm. Then, it prepares you to wake up at around 7 am. This usually fits into our lifestyles. When it tells your body to sleep and wake up earlier, it no longer fits that life. Instead, your sleep pattern disrupts your everyday life.
While the causes remain unclear, studies have made some observations. A lack of light exposure is seen among sufferers. If you frequently sit in a darkened room, working or otherwise, then this is possibly a factor in confusing your internal clock, which can lead to Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder and other sleep problems.
Understanding this can help us see how treatments are developed.
How do you fix a Circadian Rhythm Sleep disorder?
Although scientists remain unclear on what causes advanced sleep phase disorder symptoms, strategies exist to treat them. One key approach that has proven effective is addressing a potential lack of light.
Encouraging you to take on some outdoor activities in the early evening can delay the onset of tiredness. This could be taking a walk, gardening, or just sitting outside when you typically need to sleep. It is not about being overly active but simply increasing exposure to sunlight or other brighter light to prevent drowsiness. The goal is to delay your internal body clock and restore your sleep patterns. In winter, you can use daylight bulbs or portable lights to get the same effect if it is too dark outside.
In addition to this simple light therapy, you may be prescribed melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep. Taking slow-release tablets mimics the body’s natural sleep preparations, building drowsiness over time. This can make a difference for advanced sleep phase disorders and other circadian rhythm disorders.
You can overcome these problems by using these treatments and adjusting sleep times slowly to a more natural cycle. However, the issues will always return because we do not understand the causes. If you notice that your sleep pattern changes slowly once again, you can return to these treatments. This will reset your body clock again and help you maintain healthy sleep patterns.
Conclusion
If you experience a sleep disorder, it can have a much more significant effect on your quality of life than many people would imagine. Suffering from a circadian rhythm sleep disorder is a challenge, but there are ways to combat it and treatments that have been proven to help. If you think you are suffering from Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder, speak to your doctor about your concerns and find a treatment that works for you.
Featured post photo by Andrew Neel