Sleep Disorders Among Teenagers
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Sleep disorders among teenagers affects between seven to ten percent of teenagers which are called Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder, also known as DNS. By the time they reach young adulthood, many of these teenagers overgrow this disorder . Lower than one percent of adults are considered to have DSP. Often sleep disorder has been mistaken for insomnia by many people.
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.
The natural delay in the circadian sleep / wake rhythm of many teenagers’ age of development may be the reason they like to stay up late and sleep late in the morning. Sometimes this is because they would like to socialize at that time of the day.
Sleep disorders among teenagers most of the time make the teenagers real tired on the day and they may even fall asleep in the classroom. The definite cause of this sleep disorder is not known but It is known for certain that it is a circadian rhythm problem. The sleep disorders symptoms that you may notice are when teenagers frequently have a really hard time getting up in the morning for school. Though, they go to sleep at a regular time, such as 11 p.m., they still toss and turn for hours like an individual with insomnia. The difference is, unlike an insomniac, people with delayed sleep phase disorder have no difficulty staying asleep but they do have a very difficult time getting up early in the morning.
Sleep disorder treatments consist of bright light, chronotherapy, melatonin and over- the-counter prescribed sleeping pills. However, sleep disorder treatments are also available for people that ask to latch on a more traditional sleep / wake schedule.
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.
Sleep disorders among teenagers can be rather severe where in some cases, teenagers enduring delayed sleep phase disorder would need a week away from school called for to accomplished this therapy, chronotherapy which has been used as sleep disorder treatments for someone with delayed sleep phase disorder. It takes one week long of a block of time . In turn, daily bedtime is delayed by three hours. For instance, for someone that falls asleep at 2 a.m. but prefer to fall asleep at 11. p.m., their bedtime would move to 5 a.m. in the beginning. The succeeding day it would move to 8 a.m. and keep on with this cycle for a week. When the craved bed time is attained it is very crucial to maintain a uniform 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.


