Nowadays sleep disorder has affects so many people around the world, including teenagers. Sleep disorder that affects teenager between seven to ten percent of them is called Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder, also known as DSPD. Most teenagers outgrow this disorder by the time they reach young adulthood. Often people mistake this sleep disorder for insomnia.
One of the trademark of being teenagers is they like to stay up late and sleep late in the morning, just because they want to hang out with some friends or having a party, and this can cause them having a hard time to get up early in the morning. However, it can also be due to the natural delay in the circadian sleep / wake rhythm at their age of development.
Teenagers with this sleep disorder 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. Teenagers with this sleep disorder are very tired during the day and may even fall asleep in the classroom. The exact cause of this sleep disorder is not known. It is known for certain that it is a circadian rhythm problem. But there are some sleep disorder treatments you can try to solve this problem.
One of the sleeping disorder treatments is chronotherapy. Using chronotherapy as a treatment 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 example, 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. A teenager 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.
Melatonin has been successful in changing the sleep cycle of people with this sleep disorder. Melatonin is produced by the pineal gland in the human brain. These hormones help us to know when to sleep and wake up and play a role in maintaining heart rhythm. The light affects how much melatonin is produced by the body. Melatonin is normally released in the dark and instruct the body to sleep right away. The body of teenagers and adults produce 5-25 micrograms of melatonin every night. This concentration will decrease as we aged. No wonder many elderly people experience sleeping disorders. That's why increasing the levels of Human Growth Hormone in your body will help you to maintain your melatonin level. Click the link below for more details about it.
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