Are You Joking?

This is a totally random topic that caught my fancy. It bears no relation to land sales, lake progress, paperless office methods, grain tanks renovations or Morrison Ranch in general. It just seems ironic in view of the fact that my 18 year old son's snooze alarm keeps going off as I read this article in the Wall Street Journal Online (subscription required) about teenagers' sleep patterns. It is apparently possible to be diagnosed with something called "delayed sleep phase syndrome" that afflicts teens and young adults:

DSPS is believed to be the result of the body's internal clock -- called the circadian system -- getting stuck in the wrong place, causing kids to stay up late. As kids enter puberty, circadian rhythms that affect sleep begin to change, which is why most kids' bedtimes shift about an hour later as they get older. But for reasons no one understands, some kids experience more dramatic changes as their internal clocks shift forward too far. Those kids can't fall asleep until the early hours of the morning, but still have to get up early for school, so they have to get by on just a few hours of sleep each night.

It isn't clear why this happens. It may be hereditary. External factors may also play a role. As kids get older, schools start earlier, and homework loads and extracurricular activities increase, often forcing kids to stay up later than normal. Every adolescent has to deal with these pressures, but in some kids, the changes may upset the circadian system, causing it to essentially get stuck in a place where sleep is consistently delayed.

There is good news for those afflicted with DSPS; a treatment that requires no drugs:

A nondrug treatment called chronotherapy can be used to "re-set" the body clock. Chronotherapy essentially "winds" the body clock forward three hours at a time, moving the child's bedtime around the clock until he or she ends up with a "normal" bedtime.

For instance, for a child who can't fall asleep until 4 a.m., the bedtime is first delayed until 7 a.m., and the child is allowed to sleep until about 3 p.m. The next day bedtime is delayed another three hours, this time until 10 a.m., and the child is awakened at 6 p.m. The process continues, with bedtime moving around the clock to 1 p.m., 4 p.m., 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. until the desired bedtime is reached. Windows are taped up and phones turned off so midday sleep stretches won't be interrupted.

Parents typically have to sacrifice sleep themselves and take turns staying up late and helping kids pass the time in the middle of the night. The treatment typically takes about a week, so a parent can choose to do it during a school vacation.

I've no doubt that the circadian rhythms of youth are very different from those of us middle-aged folks. All of my children save one tend to be nightowls, and even the one who isn't seems capable of sleeping late through the morning. The real mystery is how The Mister and I (both definite morning people) maintain a relationship with our kids since we are rarely awake at the same time.

Now if only they could come up with a diagnosis and cure for fifty-somethings who run out of energy and brain power before the sun sets...