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I read your post and even though I'm not a reddit a user, I decided to sign-up to offer my own learnings and experience.

In short, I was in a very similar situation. I have been suffering from similar issues for than 15 years. About two years ago, after hundreds of hours of research, consultations with sleep experts, and self-experiments, I managed to find a way out. I have been waking up naturally at 7am and falling asleep within >15 mins since.

Taming my sleep schedule required multiple measures. But, combining all of these together, completely changed my life.

1. LIGHT THERAPY FIRST THING IN THE MORNING - this one has a huge impact, not only on my sleep schedule but also on my alertness during the day. I have tried five different recommended lamps and found North Star 10000 by Alaska Northen Lights to be the most effective, even though it's a bit pricey and bulky. This model is the closest one to what was used in clinical studies that have demonstrated the efficacy of light therapy. Every morning, after waking up I get myself out of bed and go sit/lie next to the lamp for 30 mins. As I mentioned, I start to feel a lot more alert within 20 mins. I do this everyday.
   
2. LIGHT DEPRIVATION TWO HOURS BEFORE BED TIME - stop using any screen 1.5 hours before your designated bed time. Can't emphasize it enough. I discovered that, like many others with this disorder, I am hyper sensitive to light. I found out that computer screens, TVs, and mobile phone screens can be devastating to my already poorly performing self-regulating mechanism. Blue light blockers are nice, but unfortunately, are no substitute to putting the screen away. Also, dim the lights around the house and avoid bright fluorescent lamps.
   
3. AVOID CAFFEINE - similar to my hyper sensitivity to light, a cup of tea in the morning can throw me off of my sleep time.
   
4. WAKE UP AT THE SAME TIME EVERY DAY- I know it sounds impossible, but after getting my routine in place (more on how I got there below), to maintain it, I wake up at the same time every day - weekdays and weekends. Any continued deviation, even for two days, throws me off an hour or two of my cycle.
   
5. MELATONIN TO DIAL BACK MY CYCLE - I learned that 0.3mg (300 micro gram) melatonin 4-6 hours before my bedtime really helps my circadian rhythm to shift back a couple of hours when combined with light therapy in the following morning. I came across this fact when reading through hundreds of clinical studies. I was also surprised that such a small dose is doing anything, but apparently, it does wonders.
   
6. FALLING ASLEEP WITH RACING THOUGHTS - another thing that helped me tremendously to get into the adjusted sleep schedule was to listen to audiobooks when I having racing thoughts, or generally, when not falling asleep within 10 mins. Anxiety and racing thoughts when lying in bed were a common occurrence. A gentle distraction - such as in the form of an audiobook - made wonders for me. Instead of turning from side to side for hours, I just felt asleep within minutes after starting to listen. Bedtime meditation also works but audiobooks are easier to start with (HEADSPACE actually have some great content, and also has built a dedicate sleep section in their app).
   
7. SLEEP HOW MUCH I NEED, NOT MORE - I experimented with how much time of sleep I actually need. I noticed, that 7:30 hours is exactly what I need to fall asleep easy, have a non-fragmented sleep, and function well. Trying to sleep more was counter productive and deteriorated my sleep quality and made it harder to fall asleep at the same time. Today, I'd rather err on sleep to little, and not too long. It helps me maintain my routine.
   
8. OTHER - Aerobic exercise is a great habit, and also improves the quality of my sleep. Another thing that I found out is that camping outdoors (when/where it is sunny) really helps with many of the items above, and is a great way to start the shift.
   
   When I was looking for a cure, I found encouragement in reading forums like this, which illustrated to me that I am not alone, and people do figure out how to overcome this eventually. I don't think that there is a silver bullet for fixing it, nor that its a one-size-fits-all solution. For me, educating myself on this (here's a really great resource to start with), experimenting to find what works and what not, and committing to resolve it, eventually paid out.
   
   Have faith, and more so, luck, in finding a way to a healthy and sustainable resolution.

> Have any of you hit this crossroads and had to completely uproot what you envision for your future?

Yes, multiple times. And each time it's been hard for me to find new goals that I can both achieve and be happy with.

It's hard to even write a response to this. I'm not the best example to go from, since I also have multiple sclerosis and other health problems. But even right now I'm still trying to find a way forward.

Which is better than willfully accepting being stuck in a rut. I did that for a few years too, and let myself get addicted to games and social media. That phase is mostly gone now, but finding ways to make money that is compatible with my many health problems is a lifelong challenge.

I've been reading a book called Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. It's been very eye-opening to see just how different our current world is from the world of our evolutionary ancestors.

DSPD is part of our genetic heritage. The mutations formed possibly hundreds of thousands of years ago and were passed down from parent to child, in an unbroken chain, until they were passed on to you and me.

But for all those tens of thousands of years, those genetic mutations impacted their carriers very little. It's been less than one hundred years since the widespread adoption of electric lighting. So we're among the first generation of carriers to suffer for it. (Although some of us may have inherited a spontaneous mutation that causes our DSPD, in which case we're the first carrier in our lineage.)

Additionally, the imperative to acquire money in our society is really very different from the food-gathering imperative of our hunter gatherer forebearers. Our genomes were shaped over tens of thousands of years to primarily succeed in finding food and socializing. So we find ourselves in control of a body and mind crafted for very different circumstances than what society demands of us now.

Even just forty years ago people were financially rewarded more for physical ability than being smart. But our society has quickly shifted to rewarding intellectual ability, primarily because of Moore's Law (not just the invention of computers, but the fact we can keep making them faster).

There's a possible universe out there where people with our particular genetic mutation happen to be the winners in the economy. But this isn't it. And like /u/eachna said, we're also not necessarily the losers. There is demand here and there for people who are unusually alert in the late evening hours.

Anyhow, none of the evolutionary past matters. We find ourselves in this situation, and complaining about it doesn't get you or me any closer to our goals. But perhaps it provides context, which can be invaluable.

Sorry for the rambling, but I want to end on a positive note. There is a chance that within the next 30 years we'll be able to cure DSPD. Gene therapy is becoming more feasible every year, and drawing lots of investment money. And companies are creating "Gene Therapy in a Box" to reduce the costs and increase the availability to end consumers.

To me, that means it makes sense to start saving money. The cost of getting your genome sequenced is dropping every year. It might be $100 in a few years, to give you an idea.

But that's just the first step of the process. Once the price is low enough, more people will get their genomes sequenced, which will lead to an explosion of genomic data. We're on the precipice of this happening, and companies like 23andMe are willfully trying to make it happen.

After that, for every genetic disorder there will need to be a specific fix created for it. This will need to be tailored to the individual. And so there will be companies offering genetic fixes for a large range of disorders. The prices will be high at first, as with all tech adoption.

I said thirty years, but it might take longer for the prices to come down for your average DSPD sufferer to afford it. I don't know when it'll be affordable, but at this point it's when, not if.

Rambling again, sorry. The point is, we may be able to fix our DSPD in the future, and it may not even cost that much. If anything, to me this greatly increases the importance of saving up maybe $10k over the next decade. Which works out to about $2.74 a day, every day, for the next 10 years.

> Have any of you hit this crossroads and had to completely uproot what you envision for your future?

Yes, and my new goal is to save up money, above and beyond anything else.

You can try a sleeping mask, it is a lot cheaper than curtains and works probably better, it is less comfortable, but not very uncomfortable in my opinion. If you buy a sleeping maks, make sure you get a 3d model, and not a flat one, so there is room for your eyes and your eyelids don't touch the fabric, these will be much more comfortable. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Sleep-Mask-Bedtime-Bliss-Comfortable/dp/B00FJQFJX8/ref=sr_1_4_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1537308233&sr=8-4&keywords=sleep%2Bmask&dpID=41v5DMWuoZL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch&th=1

I don't have these myself, so I don't know if this one is comfortable.

The one I got which I love is this: Philips goLITE BLU Light Therapy Device - HF3332

Found it on ebay for like $40. Read the reviews. After like a week of usage, I found myself getting dead tired at 9 pm. Im used to going to sleep later and later, until I finally have to say fuck it, and not go to sleep one night.


Next, try to use software that limits blue light in screens for when you are using them. Get [f.lux](https://justgetflux.com/faq.html for your PC and there are other options for your Android devices. They basically drop the level of blue as it gets darker outside.

Lastly, I want to try a nice sunrise/sunset simulator alarm clock to work in conjunction with my light panel. Here's the one I found which seems to be pretty awesome.
Philips HF3520 Wake-Up Light With Colored Sunrise Simulation
I've seen it drop down to $114 so I wouldn't get it now, but yeah, seems great for DSPS.

Those three things combined should work great for you, especially since you're waking up before dawn.

I've tried a lot of different ear plugs.

The three in the upper left are reusable. The drawback is that they jam into your ear if you lay on your side. They also tend to be sound-reducing in nature, rather than sound-proofing. People wear them to concerts to make the sound level more comfortable, but they aren't great for sleeping.

The silicon version in the bottom left is for swimming. They're pliable, and can be shaped to fit inside of your ear canal. They had reasonable sound-proofing quality, but they're sticky, and kinda weird/gross to put in and take out in the morning.

The four in the upper right are all disposable. I had to try a lot of different styles before I found the ones that fit my ear canals the best. I settled on the bright orange ones in the far upper right, but everyone's ears will differ.

I use them off and on, especially during the summer when people are mowing their lawn at 9 in the morning, or if my family is staying over, for instance. I tend to re-use a single pair quite a bit.

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I'm going to try this product. I'll let you know how it works, but it'll be a few weeks before I get it and try it out.

I've looked through the top 3 items listed on that sleepxp site, and they're all quite inferior to others on Amazon:

• Blue Light Blocking Glasses Inside| Blue Blockers by Eye Love only blocks 30% of blue light and are designed for all-day and outdoor wear, while OP mentioned working late
  
• Cyxus have clear lenses and again, don't block as much as other brands, but perhaps would be easier to disguise by OP. However, Prospek are also clear and have better ratings.
  
• Twilight has many reviewers mentioning they break easily
  
  I don't know how that list was compiled.
  
  Far better reviewed on Amazon are the Swannies, the Spectra479 (including these clip-ons), or these $20 fit-overs.

I think you are in the wrong subreddit but I'll explain and try to help. DSPD stands for Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome. Most of us here have trouble getting to sleep at a normal, socially acceptable time (1:00am is on the early side for me). I for one would love to be on the schedule you're on!

As far as your problem goes, there's a few things that you might try since caffeine does not seem to help you. One is getting up and walking around outside. I'm not sure where you live, but if you can tolerate being outside and having a walk it might help and even a gym workout can help you stay awake. Also not sure how far away from the equator you are, but even if the days aren't very short light therapy might help you. I use these:

Re-Timer Light Therapy Glasses - Gen 2: Australian Made for High Safety and Efficacy https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GGN0PAO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_jrUADb4YMWDB3

Basically, you wear them for an hour when you need to be awake.

Hi there. Have been using melatonin since 1994 so I am the master of it lol.

Right now I use Solgar 3mg nuggets, super tiny pills that will absorb really quickly. I take 9mg, non-timed release, can take a 1-3 hours to fall asleep.

If you need microdosing and/or time release, head on over to Amazon and check out Life Extension. They should have a 300mcg time release dose. Every few weeks, some nights still fail so I'm all night again lol. Doesn't matter the brand just the way I'm personally built. Don't let that discourage you though.

• Time release
  
• Non time release
  
  Not sure why the time release one is $10 right now so you might be able to find other sources for a better price. You can get the non-time release ones for $4-6.
  
  I used to swear by Schiff brand, but doesn't look like they sell pure melatonin anymore (they put b6 and theanine in their formulas), and also they don't have a low dose size either (used to have 1mg).
  
  Finally you can check Labdoor if you want a scientific analysis of how much of the product actually meets the label.
  
  Also you can put them under your tongue and let them dissolve, the idea is for alot of it to bypass the stomach and go directly into the bloodstream.
  
  This Reddit forum is surprisingly quiet. If you know of any other forums let me know as I need some help myself locating a new specialist for some testing.

As others have said, a sleep phase delay is normal in teenagers, so it's a bit too soon to tell whether this is just puberty affecting your circadian rhythm (later bedtimes, later wake times, or at least desired wake times, if you have to get up earlier than you'd like for school) or the onset of DSPD. It does sound like your delay is more severe than usual, though, if you're staying up past 2am.

Even if it's just temporary and will clear up once you hit early adulthood, it wouldn't hurt to talk to your family doctor about it or see a neurologist or sleep doctor. You might also try light therapy -- using a light box or going outside ASAP after you wake up and avoiding blue light exposure after dark. For the latter, I'd recommend Uvex Skyper computer glasses. They're cheap and block 95%+ of blue light from all sources. Filters are useful for personal electronics, but not so much if you want to keep the lights on, go out, and/or hang out with friends or family at night.

Re: narcolepsy, waking up once you're asleep is a common symptom, but not one of the core ones -- excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and abnormal REM sleep. Onset is typically between age 10-30, so it might be worth looking into, particularly if you have or start experiencing sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations (ones that occur as you're drifting off to sleep) or cataplexy (brief period of muscle weakness or paralysis triggered by strong emotions, ex. knees buckling when you laugh, collapsing when startled, et cetera).

There's a cheaper version with fewer extra options. It just has a light of one color that slowly increases over time. I don't have DSPD but my partner does, and it helps us both wake up.

I was recommended these glasses from my sleep clinic:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005IPPBNI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Nice and cheap. I was told to wear them when the sunsets. Apparently one of her patients using these alone was able to push her sleep forward 2 hours.

There are a few models, I like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Uvex-S0360X-Ultra-spec-SCT-Orange-Anti-Fog/dp/B003OBZ64M

I take two drops of liquid melatonin about a half hour before bed. That adds up to about 200mcg. Haven't had to up my dose.