Question
Hi. I am a 28 year old girl from Nottingham, England. I have had trouble sleeping since I was about 18. I am awake at night and very tired in the day. I just can't wait up at all. At the end of the day, I go home exhausted but then at 10.00 I seem to wake up! This is so annoying. In the end, I get tearful. I also have nightmares and think there is a ghost in my bedroom for which I keep switching the light on and looking round my room. I get headaches and feel and look terrible all day. I also have anxiety too. I have heard about lightboxes being able to help sleep disorders also something to do with cortisone levels. Could you enlighten me on this? Is there any alternative health treatments worth investigating e.g. hypnotherapy, herbs etc etc.
Thank you so much for your help.
Jo XX
Answer
Hi Jo,
This sounds like delayed sleep phase syndrome, and that's what the light boxes are used for. Another possibility that might help you is the food supplement melatonin, but I don't know if it's available in Great Britain or not. It's sold in health food stores and drugstores in the U.S., but here in Canada, where I live, it isn't available.
The "ghost" and the nightmares may be the result of your poor sleep patterns.
Check out some of the links here:
http://sleepdisorders.about.com/cs/dsps/index.htm
I wrote the first four articles, and the rest are links to various sites that deal with this problem. Several are about light boxes. For more on melatonin, check here:
http://sleepdisorders.about.com/cs/melatonin/index.htm
I hope this helps with your problem.
Florence
