The internal clock of the body can be disciplined. You can advance it and treat the delayed sleep phase disorder that you may be experiencing. There are other therapies for this disorder. But as the health professionals would say, it is always better to start out with non-invasive or therapies that does not involve any medication first. The internal body clockis the one that determines the time when we feel sleepy and the time when we are supposed to be awake. For some people, like the ones with DSPS, the internal body clock may have glitch.
How to Advance the Internal Body Clock for DSPS
People with DSPS sleep later than the expected time of sleeping and because of that they will have difficulty in waking up early in the morning. The discipline that you can do by advancing the internal body clock is to start by setting the time of sleep at 12am. Then after that, if you have successful done it, you can adjust it to 11:30pm, then the next day 11:00pm and the next day at 10:30 pm, and so forth. You may not be adjusting your sleeping time daily, but you get the idea. In the end you will realize that you are now sleeping at the right time.
Tips on Advancing the Internal Clock
This intervention requires a lot of patience and determination, because it is really difficult to force yourself to sleep when you are not sleepy at all. That would be your idea, to never force yourself to sleep. Try doing something that can make you fall asleep easily. You can read books, listen to music or solve some puzzles. It depends on the activity that tires you out the most, just as long as you are relaxing. Forcing yourself to sleep won’t do you any good. You will feel more awake than ever if you do that.
