[quote cateycloggs]@GingerKittyKat, my cat is ginger too! Thanks for your post, I have seen reference before to a possible syndrome or condition. I just made a post on a different thread about violence in families which is relevant here because one reason I stayed awake as a child is the sound of rows from downstairs. I never felt safe to fall asleep till everyone was in bed, often tried to comfort or distract younger siblings by telling stories, felt very guilty the rows may be about me.
Over the years I have seen psycologists for depression and mentioned the sleeping thing but I have always felt ashamed it is just laziness and unwillingness to engage with or accept reality/normality. I can't imagine any doctor would see it differently.
I don't know where is the line between personal preference and a disorder or syndrome. I have always accepted I am unusually lazy and unmotivated so put things off till it's just past the last possible moment. Have done the same all my life with the exception of working years when I had to get up so slept earlier but did resent it.
Quite simply I would always much rather be somewhere else. I'd much rather be sitting on that beach with you than sleeping now to be able to go out in good time for the shops tomorrow which is quite reasonable, I think.[/quote]
I also had a tough time growing up and because of that stayed awake until I felt it safe to go to sleep, which was 3am. I have no idea if that partly reset my body clock or if it would be naturally like that.
You can ask for a referral to a sleep clinic if you want.
I've tried for many years to reset my sleep to normal. It's worked for a few months at a time but ultimately my body goes back to it's natural rhythm. I've now given up, I don't have young children and can work mostly when I want.
Someone I know is writing a book about DSPS and she says it's just another chronotype. In evolutionary terms we would have needed people who were awake at night to guard the fire etc, it's just now people like us are seen as abnormal or lazy.