Hi,
I'm a 23 year old male, and am having a problem. I currently suffer from extreme exhaustion during the day, and it dosen't matter what time of day it is. It can be 10 minutes after I wake up, or 6 hours after I'm awake. At any time during the day, I feel like I can almost fall asleep standing up.

Nightly, I get about 4 solid hours sleep, from 2AM to 6AM. I leave for work at 7:15AM, but in order to be awake and going by that time, I need to "start" waking up at 6AM. I hit the snooze alarm about 10 times before I can actually drag myself out of bed.

I was tested for thyroid disease about a month ago, with a negative result, so it's not from that.

I've tried to get additional sleep, but it's somewhat difficult for me. It's more of a personal life thing...for instance, my wife constantly tells me I sleep "too much". My mother-in-law tells me that any more than 6 hours sleep is too much. Therefore, because everyone else in my household stays awake until 2:00AM, I am generally forced to do the same.

My fatigue has got to the point where I need to take my entire lunch break at work taking a nap. I am easily irritated, and have difficulty concentrating. It's really starting to negatively affect my life.

Do you have any ideas of how I can improve this situation? My work schedule requires me to be at work or commuting to work between the hours of 7:15AM and 6:45PM (11.5 hours daily). Sleeping 8 hours limits my time with my wife and family. That would limit me to 3.5 hours each day with my family, which includes dinner and "attention time". Any ideas of how I can resolve this, before I collapse entirely from exhaustion?