What Is Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome?

Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome or ASPS, a person gets very sleepy early in the evening and awakes in the early morning hours.

These are the conditions caused by Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome:

  1. The inability to stay awake to a normal bedtime, the inability to sleep until the alarm clock goes off, or the desire time to get up.
  2. Altered sleep-awake cycle
  3. Early awakening
  4. Early onset of going to bed extremely early
  5. An advanced  phase of the major sleep episode in relation to the desired time for sleep
  6. These symptoms are usually present for 3 months or longer

Side affects to ASPS are not known at this time.

Treatment for advanced sleep phase syndrome is the bright light therapy or chronotherapy. An artificial light strong enough to resemble daylight can alter circadian rhythms. The reason that light therapy works as well as it does is that light affects the pineal gland. The pineal gland secretes melatonin which helps us sleep. When light is taken away, the secretion of melatonin increases and we begin to get drowsy. Do not attempt to do this without a doctor.