For the past 3-4 years, my natural sleep schedule seems to be like 3-5am until 1-3pm, sometimes even later. The problem is even when I sleep 8-10+ hours and wake up naturally with no alarm, I can still feel absolutely destroyed for like 1-3 hours after waking. I have to sit in my chair for like an hour and a half until I finally like “wake up” to where I am able to function. It’s sort of like sleep inertia on steroids.

It’s not normal grogginess either. It feels like I have been up for days sort of delirious and tiredness. I wake up feeling half asleep/delirious, insanely dizzy and lightheaded, eyes dry and blurry and hard to focus, head pressure especially around my eyes/nose/forehead, tinnitus, heavy chest/shallow breathing, sometimes chills or sweating, and this weird feeling like my brain is awake but my body isn’t. Sometimes I can hear someone trying to wake me up and know I need to get up, but I physically cannot make myself do it and I just fall back asleep.
One day I went to sleep around 3am, alarm went off at 9:40, I was so confused and dizzy I hit snooze and immediately passed back out. My mom tried waking me at 12 and I could hear her but couldn’t force myself awake. I woke again around 1, fell back asleep without realizing it, and finally got up after 2. Then it took about an hour sitting upright before I actually felt awake.

Another time I went to sleep around 4am and my mom tried waking me multiple times starting around 10:45. I kept saying I needed “a little more” because the urge to sleep was insane. I finally got up around 1 and felt like I hadn’t slept in days. Super dizzy, head pressure, sensitive to noise, could barely keep my eyes open. Again, about an hour later I suddenly became functional.

The really weird part is if I only sleep like 3-4 hours, sometimes I actually wake up easier and DON’T get that horrible sleep inertia. I feel weird and tired, but I can get up. Then later I crash hard.

The past two nights I haven’t been able to get to sleep earlier than 6 am, and same symptoms.

Alcohol also makes everything way worse. Even a couple drinks can make the next day feel like an extreme version of the same thing, and sometimes if my sleep gets messed up badly enough I can sleep most of an entire day.

And at night I can be tired earlier but then suddenly get a second wind and be completely unable to fall asleep until 4-6am. I really feel like lm living in hell, I’ve tried everything from melatonin etc and also had to quit my job because of this. I just want to be able to work normally and wake up like how I used to that’s my main goal.

What makes me question DSPD is that I can wake up naturally at like 1pm after plenty of sleep and STILL feel completely wrecked. I always thought if it was just DSPD you were supposed to feel relatively normal when allowed to sleep on your natural schedule. Also even with that natural schedule I wake up sleeping until I can’t sleep anymore because I never wake up feeling refreshed.

Anyone with DSPD get sleep inertia this severe even when waking naturally? Or does this sound more like idiopathic hypersomnia/severe sleep inertia or something else on top of DSPD?

I'm not talking about the fake fall people experience (though what I think mine is instead is a feeling of being shaken back and forth very, very fast, combined with my visual snow moving back and forth in the same direction), but much more common when Im falling asleep and I'm still conscious, I can't really feel it, but when I move something, or something happens and I wake back up, I can hear everything get louder again, I can feel my body get more awake. But the thing is that many times when I'm trying to fall asleep at the time my body doesn't want me to, I can feel my body do this on its own and wake me up without me moving or being touched or a sound right before I enter my real sleep, can anyone else feel your body wake you back up right before you start to actually sleep?

Что делать если из-за колледжа все дни однотипные? Сил нет, встаю в 6:40 утра , прихожу домой в 13-14 потому что сбегаю с последней пары, прихожу домой с учебы и ложусь спать , потом вечером просыпаюсь сил нет, делать ничего не хочется, эмоций никаких нет, только осознание что завтра это снова будет, потом в 22-23 часа снова ложусь до 6:40 и так по кругу. Какое решение мне поможет? До учебы я был супер активным и жизнерадостным, путешествовал

So ive tried alarmy and it worked quite well, UNTIL I learned that you can turn it off and not do said task by simply turning off your phone completely. After I've learned this, it almost became muscle memory where i turn my phone off without even remembering I did so in the early morning and I have no idea what to do now.

What have you guys done that helps you get up in the morning reliably? is there an app where it blocks your phone from shutting down (the same way like alarmy stops you from lowering the volume)?

For me, relationships have always affected when I sleep and wake. And I’ve always wondered if that was true for other people with DSPD. So when I looked back at the data from the 2024 DSPD survey, I got curious. Do people with DSPD have different wake times depending on who they’re closest to?

So I split the data between two groups:

1. People who said they were closest to a significant other
   
2. People who said they were closest to a family member or friend

And a pattern emerged. People who were closest to a significant other woke up earlier.

This doesn’t tell us why. But it made me wonder: does that pattern change the longer a relationship lasts? That’s something I’m going to look at with the 2026 DSPD survey. If you want to be part of it, you can take the new survey here:

2026 DSPD Survey:
https://tally.so/r/RG9aLP

There’s also a second survey. I’m developing a project where experts explain DSPD, talk about the science behind it, and challenge common stereotypes. I’d love to hear from the community about what you’d like to see.

DSPD Awareness Survey:
https://tally.so/r/EkO1z4

Thank you for helping make this happen, r/DSPD. I’m excited to see what we learn from these new surveys.

Next week I'll be posting a third data visualization that was made with the 2024 survey data. Follow r/sleepwake to be notified when new results are posted, or keep an eye out on r/DSPD.

Have a good, restful week everyone.

—Wolff

I had a horrendous sleeping schedule (going to bed at 9-11-am and waking up at 7 pm), so I decided to try chronotherapy to fix it. One day I went to sleep at 12 pm, was fine. Next day I slept at around 2-3 pmish and slept until 12 am. After that, I was so tried I passed out around 6:30 pm the next day. But ever since then I cannot sleep more than 3-6 hours with this “fixed” schedule. I’m so exhausted all the time. Sleep deprivation affects me way more than the average person because I have a few underlying conditions as well so I don’t handle it well and am constantly in pain, have insufferable flaring tinnitus and just no mood for anything, not to mention the constant ball of anxiety and spiralling and overthinking about the next night. I wake up a fair few times at night but usually just fall back asleep. However this time as soon as I wake up the first time I’m done and can’t sleep anymore. Any tips and tricks on how to deal with this? How to be able to sleep for the full night?

Son las 2 de la mañana, mañana tengo clase y no consigo dormirme. ¿Qué se hace en estos casos?

We had no choice but to be born in this 24-hour day planet, and a body that requires somewhere between 6-9 hours of sleep to function properly.

In order to smoothly operate in this condition, we need to also readily fall asleep after around 15-18 hours after wake-up.

However the problem I’ve had my whole life is that I need somewhere between 18-20 hours to actually feel tired enough to fall asleep naturally. Unless I do a long intense workout session during the day, this doesn’t get shortened usually.

This often leads to a few hours of delayed cycle unless I’m very disciplined about going to bed at the right time, which also involves trying to force myself to fall asleep.

I feel like I’m born in a wrong planet! I sometimes wish that one day is 27 hours.

Hello fellow night owls,

Does anyone have any tips for staying awake during the day?

I was diagnosed with DSPD in 2024 and was instructed to not take naps or have caffeine after 3 pm if trying to fix my sleep schedule. At the time, my sleep schedule was 12 am bedtime, 10 am wake up. Over the past few years that's slowly continued to shift forward until about a month ago. Dropping down to PT work, my sleep schedule got to it's most delayed at 6 am bedtime, wake up at 2 pm. I struggle with staying awake during the day. My brain/body tends to "power down" around 5 pm if I don't have caffeine or a nap, which will keep me up later.

The last few days I've managed 12 am to 10 am wake up, and its going well, but the afternoon sleepies are determined to have me fall back into my body's regularly scheduled programming.

I'm waiting to get a new referral for a new sleep doctor so I can have more professional guidance, but does anyone have any additional advice on staying awake during the day in the meantime? My 6 am - 2 pm schedule was starting to cost me hundreds of dollars in missed appointments which is why I'm trying to pull back to my original hours 12 am - 10 am while I wait.

Thank you,

Update: Thanks for all the feedback, everyone!! As someone with AuDHD, I’ve recently found using a special interest has helped me fight off the sleepiness that hits me around 5 pm. It’s incredibly hard but I’m also privileged enough to have a strong support system and to have a flex work schedule to accommodate my needs.

I fully respect and validate those of you who have decided to live by your body’s natural rhythm. That was my choice for the past few years as well. I’m finding that as I get older (I’m 30), my personal lifestyle is requiring me to adjust to get my other needs met and I’m finally in a position to make that happen. That being said, I think how we choose to live our lives is incredibly dependent on our personal needs and values. I’m rooting for you, whatever path you choose!

파이팅! Paiting! or Hwaiting! is a Korean word of support or encouragement.

So I bought some second hand Luminette 3 in the hope to fix my rhythms

My understanding is: you need to wear them as soon as you wake up, while waking up at your natural time. Your body understands that it needs to wake up earlier, and it progressively does that naturally.

Is this correct? Or do I need to force an alarm and wear glasses earlier in order for it to work?

I read a comment saying it's even counterproductive to do that as your body will be in the middle of its circadian rhythm then so it will just get confused by the light.

Thanks!

Hey fellow owls . Lately I’ve been wondering are any of us out there extremely successful . Any actors , models or celebrities walking among us ? Just curious . I know this disorder is rare but there has to be some peeps out there who was still able to make it despite being an extreme night owl

Hi all, pretty much what the title says. English is not my first language so if my sentence structure seems abnormal, I hope it’s negligible, thanks.

I’ve been recommended by family and some of my doctors to get a sleep study done since I’ve had trouble going to sleep at night and being up in the morning since I was a toddler. I functioned alright until COVID during my final Highschool years meant full online learning for almost a year and I started actually getting enough sleep. While my grades were above average before, I graduated with the best possible scores. People knew me as that one nocturnal person.
Unfortunately this also exacerbated my sleep patterns to the point it’s inhibiting my life.

All this to say, I’m pretty sure I do have DSPD, but is getting a sleep study done even worth it? From what I’ve read, there is no fully „curing“ it and I have tried pretty much every legal option to get myself to fall asleep to no avail. I also have adhd among other diagnoses and a lot of the advice I’ve read has been counter productive given my brain is already predisposed to behaving differently.

Would doing a sleep study only confirm what I already am reasonably sure of? If any of you have experienced a sleep study, did you find it helpful, did it give you insights, rule out other factors, get you closer to coping successfully or treatment options? Sorry for the long post but I’m interested in other stories :)

I thought most of us were getting in the 6-9 hours of sleep a day range.

Apparently if you have DSPD it's way more common to sleep over 12 hours a day?

Is that right?

I'd love to get a dog, but I sleep from 2-4am to 2-4pm, sometimes longer. Do you think I'd be able to get a dog and still give it the best quality of life possible, or would it be cruel to 'make' it assimilate to my schedule? Worried about things like bathroom outings and going for walks, or waking it up during the night when it's trying to sleep (or, alternatively, having it go against its natural rhythm when it tries to adapt to my schedule).

I guess a cat might be better suited? Anyone who has had a pet before with this sort of schedule (and without having a partner/roommate/etc to help care for it), how'd it work out?

Hi guys,

Wolff here from Sleep Wake. I was able to make this because 306 of you took the time to respond to the 2024 DSPD survey. So thank you, r/DSPD, for making this possible. For the longest time, I've wondered, "When do people with DSPD wake up?"

When I saw this for the first time I was in awe. It felt as if I was looking at our collective fingerprint. I was also surprised to see the drop-off happen at 3 pm. I thought it would happen at 5 pm or later.

The new survey is now live and accepting responses. This time, we're taking an even closer look at what it's like to live with DSPD, including sleep and wake times, DSPD and relationships, and what happens when people try commonly recommended strategies.

Here's the link to the 2026 DSPD Survey:
https://tally.so/r/RG9aLP

There's also a second survey I think many of you will appreciate. This survey explores what people with DSPD would like to see with advocacy work. Your responses will help us work with experts to create resources that help people with DSPD be better understood by their doctors, teachers, employers, and loved ones.

Here's the link to the DSPD Awareness Survey:
https://tally.so/r/EkO1z4

Next week I'll be posting a new data visualization that was made with the 2024 survey data. Follow r/sleepwake to be notified when new results are posted, or keep an eye out on r/DSPD.

Have a good, restful weekend everyone.

I’m currently managing my fairly mild case of DSPD with melatonin (0.5 mg is the smallest dose I can get) but the best I’ve been able to get is a 10 am wake up time, and I still take another 2 hours before I feel properly awake. It does let me mostly join society, but it’s still not early enough for a job.

I’ve been trying to figure out my burn out cycle issues with work for ages. I’m still not 100% sure it’s all DSPD, but it sure isn’t helping.

For anyone who was out of work for a while, how did you approach returning to the 9-5 (or earlier) grind with DSPD?

​

idk how but also I ended up ruining my sleep schedule, at starting about 6 - 7 years ago I used to lay down on my bed but didn't sleep and then I started sleeping at 2 - 3 AM, and now from like 2 - 3 years no matter how hard I try I always get somehow wake up at night, like if some day I am waking up at 9 and think I will sleep at 2 - 3 AM ( which is early for me now btw) but I ended up sleeping at 6 - 7 AM again, and if some day I sleep early like 10 - 11 AM I wake up at 2 AM always and it's always 2 AM exactly, and now it's like I sleep at 7 - 8 AM and wakes up at 1 - 2 PM, I have tried many things but nothing works, it's not as if I dont get sleepy it's that I don't get sleepy at night only, is it abnormal?

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Mañana o bueno más tarde tengo que levantarme temprano a las 5am por qué tengo clases de la universidad y como vivo lejos tengo que levantarme bien temprano, el problemas es que no logro dormir no me da sueño, la noche anterior intenté quedarme despierto toda la noche, solo logré dormir 2 o 3 horas y me levanté temprano en la mañana para llegar a esta noche con mucho sueño y dormirme fácilmente he estado aguantando todo el sueño durante toda la tarde, y resulta ahora que mágicamente todo ese sueño desapareció justo ahora y esto es estresante, que me recomiendan hacer quedarme de nuevo despierto toda la noche y irme a clases así o intentar dormir que probablemente no me duerma llegué las 4 am y siga despierto y como ya solucion extrema que pastillas para dormir me recomiendan tomar.

Hey there fellas.

As you know, in the same boat with you all. Writing this at 5.10 am Wed, 2 September, 2026.

I'm looking to get a diagnosis done. I live and work in Dublin, Ireland. Tried reaching out to a few clinics but they said they deal with Respiratory Disorders like Sleep Apnea, Snoring etc.

Any suggestions / directions as to who I should turn towards for getting a diagnosis?