CIRCADIAN RHYTHM SLEEP DISORDER: WHO – WHAT – WHY?
It may sound like a dance from the Caribbean, but this sleep disorder hardly gives you anything to party about. Circadian rhythm sleep disorder is a mismatch between a person’s internal body clock and their current sleep-wake cycle. Our bodies not only appreciate a standard schedule and routine, they demand it. When you mess around with Mother Nature, you can be sure she is likely to remember and reciprocate. When you try to trick your internal clock, you may be too tired to think about dancing anyway.
That master clock in the brain
The master clock in our brain is the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), made up of a cluster of nerves in the hypothalamus that act like a conduit for light when it enters the brain. The SCN takes a signal from the morning light and actually resets our body’s clock. When it gets dark another mechanism in our brain, the pineal gland, takes note and releases melatonin. By the way, this melatonin secretion is the opposite in nocturnal animals; it tells them to wake up. For the most part, we stay in alignment with our world because light coming through our eyes resets our circadian rhythm every day. When we do something that overwhelms the brain it takes a few days to adjust – think of that first week each time daylight savings provides us with a little glitch. Also, just look at all the artificial lighting we expose ourselves to with television and the internet, sometimes way past when our bodies would prefer it darker. When a person is blind, melatonin can be used to help with this since they never get that light cue to reset their internal clock.
Universal culprits – typical causes of this disorder
Before we break down the types of circadian rhythm sleep disorder along with the differences in symptoms for each, let’s review the most typical causes:
- Staying up all night to party
- Going to bed top late
- Working in graveyard or a variety of shifts including night shifts
- Stimulants
- Moving to a different time zone
- Other illnesses that preventing you to sleep when needed
- Jet Lag – the most common
- Medications
- Changes in routine
- Pregnancy
Then, still keeping it general, because all the types reflect them, we have the more generic results that happen with any circadian rhythm disorder, or for that matter, all sleep disorders.
- Emotional roller-coaster
- Always tired
- Dependent on stimulants, i.e. caffeine or tobacco, etc., to stay awake
- Delayed response
- Poor concentration
- Anger management problems
- Falling asleep while working, driving or just attempting to enjoy life
- Wanting to nap everyday
- Looking and feeling tired and exhausted is normal to you
If these fit you, or seem to overlap lists for other sleep disorders, you are right. Sleep deprivation in any form creates a similar outcome.
The symptoms sorted out by the types:
When we examine the symptoms, there is still some overlap, but things get more specific.
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Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS):
- Here we have people who like to stay up late, burn the midnight oil for whatever reason. Often bedtime gets pushed later and later. An interesting study recently revealed that for some reason teenagers’ bodies release melatonin later in the evening than do adults and little ones. This makes teens want to stay up later, and because they still need 9 hours of sleep, school starts awfully early for too many of them. Some school systems have experimented with delayed schedules to help teens get the rest they need. Symptoms for delayed sleep phase syndrome are:
- Sleepiness during desired wake periods
- Insomnia or excessive sleepiness
- Difficulty functioning in the morning
-
Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome (ASPS):
- So, this is the opposite of DSPS. Bedtime keeps occurring earlier and earlier, and as appealing as that may sound sometimes, it can affect social and family life a lot. It is most common with older people. Common symptoms include:
- Evening sleepiness
- Decreased daytime alertness
- Tendency to awaken spontaneously earlier than desired
-
Shift Work Sleep Disorder:
- Graveyard shifts and changing shifts can really mess with the circadian clock. Shift work is hard to get used to because we are diurnal mammals who would really rather sleep when it is dark outside. One of the biggest problems with people who lack sleep is a higher chance of accidents, and this type of circadian rhythm sleep disorder definitely contributes to that issue. Typical signs of this sleep disorder are:
- Insomnia
- Excessive sleepiness
- Stress levels increased
- Problem with concentrating
- Headaches
- Less energy
- Irritability
-
Jet Lag:
- This circadian rhythm sleep disorder is the most common. It varies depending on how many time changes your body has to adjust to. Traveling to the east is much worse than to the west, and going north and south has no effect, unless you just find traveling in general disruptive, which is probably “good ole” temporary insomnia. Signs for jet lag include:
- Feel disoriented
- Fatigue and overall tiredness
- Unable to sleep at night
- Loss of concentration and drive
- Headaches
These four types of circadian rhythm sleep disorder are usually easy to diagnose and treat because they are the consequences of lifestyle and the choices we make. In one way or another, we are contributing to a pattern of sleep disruption. Effective treatment for circadian rhythm sleep disorders can be as simple adopting a standard sleep schedule that we stick to.
Destination deep sleep – respect it
Circadian rhythm sleep disorders are possibly easier to identify than most, out of the many health issues that can plague us humankind, but that does not make them less important. You might say it gives you no excuse not to investigate if you think you are suffering from one of them. Each night our bodies long to take the perfect journey into deep sleep. Most of us go through life not knowing how crucial that journey is. If we learn how to recognize what is interrupting our sleep, treat it accordingly, and more importantly, respect it, we will very likely improve our health and well-being for a much longer life.
