1. Improve Sleep Hygiene
Sleep hygiene refers essentially to the actions you take prior to going to bed at night. People with advanced sleep phase disorder may neglect certain sleep rituals because they fall asleep so much earlier in the evening. The ritual may include brushing your teeth, washing your face or going to the bathroom. One way to treat advanced sleep phase disorder is to consciously force yourself to perform these tasks before going to bed, regardless of how tired you feel. A typical sleep ritual should take about 30 minutes, and it may reset your circadian rhythm (your sleep/wake cycle) forward at least that much.
2. Bright Light Therapy
Bright light therapy exposes you to uncomfortable light levels that keep you awake until it's time to go to bed. Bright halogens or even lamps without lampshades can be uncomfortable, but they may reset circadian your rhythms. Doctors often encourage people with this disorder to sit or stand in a room illuminated by bright lights. Only after a period that extends beyond the patient's typical circadian rhythm passes, he may he turn out the lights and head to bed. Bright light therapy is more important for patients who live in northern latitudes where ambient light from the sun can wane early. Someone with ASPD in Alaska, for example, would find the winter months difficult due to the timing of the sunset.
3. Consider Chronotherapy
Chronotherapy adjusts the sleeper's circadian rhythm by forcing her to stay up progressively later each night. It typically is combined with bright light therapy and/or sleep hygiene rituals. The patient is subjected to a polysomnography, or overnight sleep study to determine the current circadian rhythm and pinpoint when you start to lose energy and drift off to sleep. With this data, a sleep specialist can prescribe a time each night until which you should stay awake. Incremental changes are typically only a few minutes at a time, so as to not shock the body or cause increased sleepiness the following day. Chronotherapy has proven to be effective, but can take several months to implement fully, depending on the severity of the disorder.
