The interaction of normal healthy sleep with human biological rhythms is discussed in detail in the relevant chapter of the book. This information is directly related to the understanding of the diurnal (circadian) rhythm. If the text of this chapter seems to be poorly understood, then you can return to the previous information to clarify the details.
So, circadian rhythm disturbance is a consequence of the desynchronization of the internal biological clock with the environment. Insomnia occurs when the need for sleep does not correspond to the light-dark cycle. Some people may adapt to these inconsistencies and do not suffer from insomnia. But more often under these conditions, it is difficult to maintain a stable biorhythm of sleep and wakefulness. It becomes difficult for people to fall asleep when they want it, their sleep becomes disturbing and jerky, not bringing rest. As a result, drowsiness and fatigue occur during the daytime , which leads to malaise and failure of the body systems. Insomnia associated with desynchronization requires not only diagnostics, but also a special approach to treatment.
– Insomnia in the syndrome of delayed sleep phase .
This type of sleep disturbance is due to the fact that with age, circadian rhythms undergo changes in this way. By the 18-19 years, they begin to lag in phase. Many of us have noticed that older teens find it difficult to fall asleep earlier than 1-2 am. Since the duration of sleep they usually have 8-9 hours, then young people wake up no earlier than 10-11 am. They always need to wake up for a long time to study, which sometimes causes discontent or conflict with their parents. This rhythm of sleep and wakefulness for adolescents is normal. Senior family members can be advised to recall whether they liked getting up early in the morning?
But as they mature, biorhythms continue to pass their advance in phase and beyond. In the end, this leads to the fact that older people go to bed much earlier (at 22-23 hours) and wake up earlier (around 7 o’clock in the morning). This picture of sleep is normally observed in healthy people of mature working age.
Sleep problems occur if the rhythm lag in the phase remains the same as in youth, despite growing up. They continue to fall asleep and wake up late. This is called sleep phase syndrome . Unlike “owls”, for whom such a situation is normal and does not cause discomfort, these people could not adapt to the peculiarities of their biorhythms, which changed as they mature.
With such sleep disorders, there are complaints of insomnia and difficulty falling asleep. They try to go to bed at the traditional time of 23 hours, and not at 1-2 nights, as their biorhythms are actually programmed. In the morning it is difficult for them to wake up, they are late for work and business meetings, if they are not awakened, as happened in their youth. When these people still force themselves to wake up early, they are overcome all day by drowsiness, lethargy, irritability, and discontent with others. The malaise is due to the fact that they are forced to stand in the phase of deep sleep. Usually these people talk about not getting enough sleep. And this is true: deep sleep was interrupted and the body did not recover overnight. If you have noticed a similar sleep disorder in yourself, thenbelong to the type of people who suffer from insomnia with the syndrome of “lagging” sleep phase.
Currently, an effective and reasonable method of treatment is exposure to bright light, because it is the best synchronizer of the daily rhythm. If in the early morning hours you act upon yourself with a bright light, then the phase of the lagging rhythm will advance. In this case, the evening before, she wants to sleep. Therefore, people who have this kind of insomnia, it is recommended not to curtain the curtains, so that the morning light would wake them up in time.