SCENARIO: Michael is a first-year university student who often stays up late at night. During the week Michael’s university commitments do not start until 11am so he usually sleeps in until at least 9:30am each day. Recently, Michael got a job at McDonalds doing the breakfast shift (6am-10am) during the week. Currently Michael is struggling to wake up in the morning so that he can make it to work on time. He has even missed his alarm on several occasions and has been quite late for work. When he is at work, Michael appears very tired and does not perform well. Michael has tried going to bed earlier so that he can wake up earlier, however, when he does this he is unable to fall asleep. He then gets up and plays on the computer until he feels sleepy (around 2am). Michael has no trouble falling asleep at 2am in the morning, and when he is asleep, he does not wake during the night. On the weekend when he has an opportunity to sleep in later, he sleeps until after noon in order to catch up on his sleep lost during the previous week. However, this doesn’t help him get to sleep earlier the next week.
In 800 words (or less), you should:
• Identify and explain the sleep problem that Michael has.
• Suggest possible psychological/behavioural treatments for the sleep problem and justify your recommendations.