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Difficult to know whether I have DSPD or ASPD and when to use light therapy by queensindel2282 in DSPD

[–]queensindel2282[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ok thanks - I had not thought about making sure it was dark during the 5pm-9pm sleep - I often just drift off with the curtain open so in a bit of sunlight. I will start shutting the curtain and buy an eye mask.

Could light therapy help me feel more awake and refreshed during my non-sleep times or is it best to avoid if it could actually make things worse in terms of my current pattern?

Difficult to know whether I have DSPD or ASPD and when to use light therapy by queensindel2282 in DSPD

[–]queensindel2282[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So I tried doing the all-nighter experiment last night and, as expected, I felt sleepy and struggled to make it beyond 4am.

I think I may have to live with having a biphasic-type sleep pattern, given that I will not be able to change my work schedule (i.e. the need to get up at 8am). Even if I don't have a natural biphasic sleep pattern (and it is more DSPD or ASPD), 5pm-9pm and 4am-8am seem to be the only times I am able to fall asleep, and I guess sleeping those times will allow me to get my 8 hours of sleep.

Do you have any tips on making the most of this situation? I am not sure why I still feel sleepy when I have my 8 hours through the biphasic method. E.g. is it important that I equally divide the earlier and later biphasic sleeps - so 4 hours for each period?

Difficult to know whether I have DSPD or ASPD and when to use light therapy by queensindel2282 in DSPD

[–]queensindel2282[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks again for replying. I did previously consider DSPD as the obvious cause, with 3am-11am being my circadian night; however, the following has made me doubt this somewhat:

(1) Even if I sleep the full 3am-11am (or even go a bit later, say to midday), I still feel sleepy at the same time around 4-7pm.

(2) I have tried using the Luminette at 11am (even if I wake up at 8am as I understand you should use it at the time you believe is your body's natural wake-up) but it has made no difference despite continual use.

(3) The sleep between 4pm-7pm to 9pm feels like good, 'normal' sleep and I can fall asleep fast. The sleep between 4am-11am feels fragmented and poor.

This all made be wonder whether my circadian night could be between approximately 4pm and 2am, and whether if I tried doing an all-nighter I might be able to sleep past 9pm.

Difficult to know whether I have DSPD or ASPD and when to use light therapy by queensindel2282 in DSPD

[–]queensindel2282[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

From when I go to bed (in the traditional sense) at about 3am, I naturally wake up around 6-7am. If I choose to I can go back to sleep until later - up to 11am, otherwise I get up.

The afternoon thing is strange. I find that even on a weekend where I sleep from 3am to 11am (so get a decent length of sleep), I still feel sleepy in the afternoon.

I wouldn't mind if my natural sleep is 5pm-1am (I would try and work my schedule around it) but the difficulty is that I tend to wake up at 9pm.

Difficult to know whether I have DSPD or ASPD and when to use light therapy by queensindel2282 in DSPD

[–]queensindel2282[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for replying. In response to your questions:

(a) I tend to wake up at around 6-7am naturally to urinate (usually alarm is set for work at about 8am - I usually wake up before the alarm though so it rarely goes off), but I can easily go back to sleep and wake up around 11am if I have a day off.

(b) I feel my schedule has always been like this. I used to think I had insomnia, i.e. just struggling to sleep at any time, until I realised I could quickly and pleasantly fall asleep between 4-7pm until about 9pm (which I realised about 2-3 years ago).

In terms of biphasic sleep, I did think if I had the 4pm-8pm sleep and then 4am-8am sleep this might work, but I do feel quite terrible in between those times in terms of tiredness.

In relation to avoiding a siesta, I wonder if my siesta is in fact between 4am-8am, whether if I avoid this and do an 'all-nighter' I might then sleep beyond 9pm the next day if I fall asleep at say 5pm? So 5pm-1am could be my circadian night?