Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

[impvme]

Hey,
I always knew that I had some form of a sleep disorder. Glad to see that its finally been given a name. Although I havent had the problem of getting up in the morning. I have never really liked getting up in the early am, I have always been able to do so. So I've been sufferring from sleep depravation for most of my life. One of the ways I learned to cope was to take naps at the am and afternoon break times. I learned to drop into REM sleep within 1 to 2 mins and wake at the 15 to 20 min mark almost to the min.(my jobs have always afforded me flexible break times) The job I had for the last 20 years had wake up times any where from 2am to 10am depending on the day, location and worksite. But the first 2 times I went to college I invaribly had to drop the 8 and 7 am classes because eventhough I could get there on time I could not stay awake to learn anything. So I gre up and for the most part still do function on 4 to 6 hrs a night of sleep. I count myself blessed if I get 6 hrs a night;-)
At one time I had a 50+ hr/wk job and a partime 10+ hr/wk job. The people with my partime job used to ask me when I slept because they knew what I did for my full time job and they were always getting business emails from me around 2 to 4 am. That was the time of day(read night) that I also did all of my best creative school work. I'm 52 now and I still get my best sleep from 2am to 10am.
Did or does anyone else not really have problems with getting up in the morning like me? I'm not late for work(or appreciably late) and when I wake up I'm fully awake and functioning. It doesent take time to wake either; I'm immediatly awake. Does that mean that I am a regular insomniac?

[Circadiabsurdium]

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the not waking up early criteria. I'm not a doctor, but my take is that if you are able to force yourself out of bed and to work on time, but are still a zombie all morning, can't "stay awake to learn anything," and can "drop into REM sleep within 1 to 2 mins" then it's still DSPS, OR maybe you didn't technically wake up - I certainly don't think it's accurate to call yourself "fully awake and functioning." The easiest way (outside of a sleep clinic) to tell onset insomnia from DSPS, I think, is to ignore the clock for a week or so, such as if you have a vacation (ha ha, yes I know that's a stretch for most people) and just go to bed when you are tired and wake up naturally. See if your sleep falls into a pattern of easily falling asleep and waking at a consistent time, such as 4am to noon. If you can sleep consistently at later but not earlier hours, then you might have DSPS. But if you have the same trouble falling asleep no matter when you go to bed then maybe there's another problem at work.