We've all known someone that stays awake all night long, and then drags all through the next day. They just can't seem to get their sleeping habits in check. Maybe they're studying, or playing video games; maybe there's too much blood in their caffeine system? Maybe this is you.
Work ethic or grades start to suffer, concerned friends and family start to nag and offer "help" in the form of judgmental opinions. But the sunlight just never feels quite "right". Besides, you're never tired enough to sleep at night!
Eventually you get to a point where being a night owl does actually become a problem for you, and you start trying to correct your sleep habits. You follow all the tips you read online. Cut back on energy drinks, don't eat after a certain time, turn off the screens, make the room cool dark and calm, etc, blah blah.
Nope, still not tired!
Maybe a hard reset will do the trick? Stay awake all night and through the next day, hoping to tire yourself out, praying that you sleep through the night. And then night rolls around and you feel once more as fresh and alert as a daisy greeting the moon? Let's try this again!
You finally sleep all the way through a single night, aaaaaaaand..... Wake up feeling so dead tired it's like you didn't sleep at all. 
Maybe at this point you try melatonin, Ambien, or even NyQuil, or maybe you've already gone down that road. You sleep okay, or through most of the night, but you're still always tired all through the day. The next extreme correction method is UV light therapy. It can cost around $100 in some areas for the proper lights and fixtures.
Well, that was all a waste of money. What's left?
Why, a sleep study! It will only cost you a mere thousand dollars, per night on average!
Never mind, I think it's stress over money keeping me awake....
Well, if you can afford the $600-$5000, or maybe your insurance covers it, (which mine did as a child) You're going to be there for at least 3 nights.
My study at age 16 revealed that I
-am more alert and awake at night regardless of how much sleep I've gotten
-test better and score higher when tested at night
-test better and score higher when I've been able to sleep through the day
-sleep more soundly and stir less when sleeping during the day
I was diagnosed with "Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS), and it was ruled that it was caused by a complication from the cocktail of medications I was on. I couldn't sleep at all unless I took one of them. A few years later, I was finally able to discontinue all of those pills, and for a while I was able to sleep just fine through the night, about two months. I had no insurance, and couldn't afford a sleep study. In fact, for the next ten years, I would struggle with this. I used to get by on only 5 hours of sleep per 24 hours. That's all I needed. I fall asleep around 6am, then wake up naturally around 11am. But I had to be at work by 9am.
Finally, 3 years ago, thanks to Obamacare, I was finally able to get back to see another sleep specialist as an adult, and I was actually shocked to learn that my condition had gotten worse, and that there was nothing I could have done!
Most people who suffer from DSPS can correct it with one of the aforementioned methods. But lucky me! 1 in 10 will be entirely resistant due to a very unique trait:
People who are clinically nocturnal do not benefit from sleeping at night. Even if they can find ways to get to sleep at night, they will not reach a restful sleep state.They must sleep during the day, or their bodies will not enter the repair and restore cycles naturally engaged during sleep.
It's also worth noting the while your body might be tired at night, but your brain is fighting it to be alert and active, placing additional drain and strain on your whole system while you're trying to sleep.
So, it's really annoying and frustrating when people tell me to just *insert random thing I've tried a million other times*. I literally have no control over this. My body is is really just different from most everyone else.
Further, certain levels sunlight actually trigger our sleep cycle to start. The intensity and color of sunlight changes throughout the day, and this affects the wavelength and exposure level. For me, that level is early morning sunlight, dawn. I get tired between 4 am and 6 am., and seep until around 4pm. Until around 4pm, the intensity of sunlight is often too much for me to drive safely. But the more orange setting sun can be right in my face and it doesn't bother me,
In short, calling me a "vampire" is quite alright.
Now I'm gonna take a nap.
Most Helpful Opinions