Next time someone accuses you of being a night owl, here’s a term to toss back at them: delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS). This is pretty much what it sounds like: your sleep schedule is “delayed,” or pushed back later than most people’s. You fall asleep later, you wake up later. You’re still getting a full night of sleep: it just starts and ends later than everyone else. “It’s a situation where you’re out of sync with the outside world,” said Rafael Pelayo, MD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford Center For Sleep Sciences and Medicine. “When you’re left to your own schedule, you’re completely fine.”
Delayed sleep phase syndrome often comes to light during adolescence, but it’s actually caused by a genetic mutation in the “circadian clock gene,” CRY1. This genetic tendency is usually revealed when you go through puberty and begin staying up later, Dr. Pelayo told POPSUGAR. The good news? “It’s a treatable condition,” Dr. Pelayo said. “People who are predisposed to be this way can get back in sync with the outside world.
What Is Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome?
Delayed sleep phase syndrome occurs when your natural sleep schedule starts and ends at a later time than what’s considered normal. For example, if most people go to bed at 10 p.m. and wake up at 6 a.m., you’re more comfortable going to bed at 1 a.m. and waking up at 9 a.m. Unlike insomnia, “delayed sleep phase syndrome is characterized by difficulty falling asleep, but not staying asleep,” Dr. Pelayo said. Once someone with delayed sleep phase syndrome starts pushing back their bedtime, they’ll find it extremely difficult to go to bed earlier again. According to Dr. Pelayo, delayed sleep phase syndrome is the second-most common sleep disorder in teenagers and young adults, behind generally insufficient sleep or sleep quality.
