'The Night Owl Effect'

Always nice to put a name on something

And here is the name - Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

But what does it mean? Well in Wikipeida it is defined as

a misalignment between the patient's sleep pattern and the sleep pattern that is desired or regarded as the societal norm.... In most circadian rhythm sleep disorders, the underlying problem is that the patient cannot sleep when sleep is desired, needed or expected.

And what does it literally mean? Well here is my definition...

Trying to go to bed at 2 or 3 am and lying there in the dark, wide awake, eyes open, listening to the sounds of this house in the middle of the night.

Lying in the dark with my iPod on for hours, staring at the celing

Sleeping all of the day, avoiding the heat, missing the sunshine

This is what my life has become in Darwin. And when I think back, it's always been like that.

When I was studying I would stay up most of the night reading, burning candles and insence, meditating, listening to music

I remember working in Tesco, starting my shift at 10pm and finishing at 7am. Sleeping all day.

Even more recently, when I was working in the school here in Darwin I never got to sleep until about 2am and then I had to get up out of bed at 7am. And what an ordeal! At night time, I lie awake for ages, desperately trying to close my eyes, to go to sleep. Yet when that alarm went in the morning, I could sleep at the click of my fingers. And god what a struggle to get myself out of that bed. 4 to 5 hours sleep most nights. And then I'd make up for it at the weekend by sleeping most of the day.

Since I have broken my foot this has intensified normally. I now do not get to sleep until just before dawn (between half 5 and six every morning) Then I sleep soundly and beautifully for most of the day. Today I woke up at 4pm.

It is NOT insomnia, for which at least I should be grateful. As wikipedia tells us

People with DSPS have at least a normal - and often much greater than normal - ability to sleep during the morning, and sometimes in the afternoon as well. In contrast, those with chronic insomnia do not find it much easier to sleep during the morning than at night.

Boy do I find it easy to sleep during the day!

So now I have decided to stop fighting against it. To stop forcing myself to try and align my sleeping times to normality. Who wants to be up during the day time anyway in Darwin, when it is so hot, sticky and humid? Better to just accept that I am a nightowl. I have always preferred night time, I have always had difficulty facing the morning. And now that I am not working, lets just go with it. Lets become nocturnal.