Yes, yes, so once you stop chuckling after you thought to yourself “Yeah, we already knew that,” read on. I recently discovered that there is a disorder called Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (DSPS) where those who suffer from it have a chronic disorder with respect to the timing of their sleep patterns. Their internal clocks are set back so that they go to sleep late at night and wake up much later in the day.

After reading this, all of the major symptoms fit what I fight with every day. Even when I manage to get myself to bed early and get 8 hours of so of sleep, waking up early in the morning is still a struggle, not to mention getting through the day. But when I go to bed, I wake up normally after 9 hours and feel fine.

There is an essay on Sleep Discrimination that essentially says that what ‘night people’ have to go through is tantamount to discrimination, and I can’t help but agree. I can’t count how many times I’ve expressed the same thoughts since college. Of course, once I started working, I realized that the way our screwed up little world works, it’ll be a long time before this is addressed in a significant way, yet alone accepted by most other people who can’t relate.

If you are one of us night owls and want more info, check out the Wikipedia link (above), and the DSPS Info website, both of which have numerous links to other information, including scientific research into the problem. There is even a mailing list if you’d like to discuss this with others just like you.