Are Aspie Minds always in Overdrive ? It's long term effects ?

[Tom]

Do you feel that your mind usually seems to be operating at a faster RPM then NTs?

I do. Even in supposed relaxed situations my mind always seems to be thinking on this or that, sometimes fixated on something previous or having the situation bring new thoughts/ideas to mind.

And then there is the more or less continual mental demands of maintaining the mask and having to consciously decode the conversation and body language to decide what is actually being said or meant and deciding on appropriate response. Cause just abruptly singing a few lines of the TV show song 'Flipper', because it suddenly popped in your mind would be awkward...

An observant superior once made the comment that I 'Even idle at 60mph' because he caught me stimming with my leg and did not understand what it was.



Most times I do not mind the mental overflowing. Many thoughts come and go... I chew on ideas, insights or creative thoughts inevitably occur in all the mass of it. At night I have to really shut it down however to sleep, or when stressed find some mind numbing activity (like a video game, etc).

But It occurred to me to wonder if all this extra activity has any result or consequence on our minds. Like does it get over-used, fatigued, aged prematurely ? Or does it keep the mind in shape due to exercise?

Do you experience this extra active mind ?

 

[Kari Suttle]

Yes i do. That's why days off from my main full time job can drive me insane, cause suddenly i have nothing to do to keep me occupied. At work at my part time job i'm constantly moving even when i, as a cashier, have no customers to check out. Constantly fixing the displays around my assigned register, cleaning up my area, that sort of stuff. One woman - who ended up promoted rather early into being hired - commented on it, that both me and her can't stand staying still, we have to be busy. And i really do, when i'm at work. Even if i don't want to clean or straighten up, it will bother me until i do.

It affects my sleep, too; if i wake up at some point during the night for whatever reason, once i'm up i'm up for hours because my mind starts going into overdrive the moment i wake up. It can be 3am and it'll instantly start thinking about what happened yesterday, what's supposed to go on today, how to prepare for this and that, and yet all i want to do is go back to sleep. I find it hard to fall asleep for the same reason; my mind is nearly always going. As a kid i loved writing stories so i would literally write stories in my head, like a mental movie, so i'd fall asleep easier. I still do it to be honest, even if i don't really write anymore.

 

[Tom]

Yes i do. That's why days off from my main full time job can drive me insane, cause suddenly i have nothing to do to keep me occupied. At work at my part time job i'm constantly moving even when i, as a cashier, have no customers to check out. Constantly fixing the displays around my assigned register, cleaning up my area, that sort of stuff. One woman - who ended up promoted rather early into being hired - commented on it, that both me and her can't stand staying still, we have to be busy. And i really do, when i'm at work. Even if i don't want to clean or straighten up, it will bother me until i do.

It affects my sleep, too; if i wake up at some point during the night for whatever reason, once i'm up i'm up for hours because my mind starts going into overdrive the moment i wake up. It can be 3am and it'll instantly start thinking about what happened yesterday, what's supposed to go on today, how to prepare for this and that, and yet all i want to do is go back to sleep. I find it hard to fall asleep for the same reason; my mind is nearly always going. As a kid i loved writing stories so i would literally write stories in my head, like a mental movie, so i'd fall asleep easier. I still do it to be honest, even if i don't really write anymore.

I have used that same mental story/movie technique for ever. Though for me I found it best to essentially replay the same story each night, with only small details changed maybe. It would be a story I liked but because it was repeating/replaying would not generate new thoughts or creativity. It reminds me of what a parent will sometimes do with a child to get them to go to sleep. Btw if I like an actual movie I can watch it many times, and sometimes when really stressed would play a familiar movie.

 

[Judge]

Absolutely. Just waking up from a deep sleep always makes me feel like my mind is a hard drive booting up...flooding my mind with thoughts always too soon, and too fast. Over-thinking most anything comes naturally to me. And can wear me out at times.

Sometimes it can be a real asset, other times a liability.

 

[apsie]

Yes.
I think of it as the core of my aspieness.
Because of the way I process (sensory) information, it seems my brain needs to work harder/more then NT's.
Its the same across the board, when I think about anything.

 

[Suzanne]

All the time and my husband complains and says that his brain just cannot keep up, but if I am truthful here, I honestly can't see what I am doing is out of the ordinary, as it is what we are discussing, that makes me think of something else.

Sometimes, thoughts just pop into my head and I am so eager to share.

 

[Judge]

I liked the scene in the beginning of the movie "Mozart and the Whale" where Josh Harnett's Aspie character is trying to talk to the two occupants of his cab, all while mentally visualizing a street map. He's on overload, and it costs him the fare, his cab and his job.

At least it sort of gives one an idea of what this can be like....

 

[Aspie@60]

I have used that same mental story/movie technique for ever. Though for me I found it best to essentially replay the same story each night, with only small details changed maybe. It would be a story I liked but because it was repeating/replaying would not generate new thoughts or creativity. It reminds me of what a parent will sometimes do with a child to get them to go to sleep. Btw if I like an actual movie I can watch it many times, and sometimes when really stressed would play a familiar movie.

Audiobooks using the sleep feature (30-45 minutes) help me to get to sleep or back to sleep.

 

[TragicKingdom]

Do you feel that your mind usually seems to be operating at a faster RPM then NTs?

I do. Even in supposed relaxed situations my mind always seems to be thinking on this or that, sometimes fixated on something previous or having the situation bring new thoughts/ideas to mind.

And then there is the more or less continual mental demands of maintaining the mask and having to consciously decode the conversation and body language to decide what is actually being said or meant and deciding on appropriate response. Cause just abruptly singing a few lines of the TV show song 'Flipper', because it suddenly popped in your mind would be awkward...

An observant superior once made the comment that I 'Even idle at 60mph' because he caught me stimming with my leg and did not understand what it was.



Most times I do not mind the mental overflowing. Many thoughts come and go... I chew on ideas, insights or creative thoughts inevitably occur in all the mass of it. At night I have to really shut it down however to sleep, or when stressed find some mind numbing activity (like a video game, etc).

But It occurred to me to wonder if all this extra activity has any result or consequence on our minds. Like does it get over-used, fatigued, aged prematurely ? Or does it keep the mind in shape due to exercise?

Do you experience this extra active mind ?

Yes, I definitely feel this is true and I do experience it myself each day; Sometimes, though, it devolves into pure rumination over negative issues which is the opposite of what I desire from my mind.

 

[anthoskate]

You can get autistic burnout which is what I think that I have been experiencing for the passed 3 years.

Autism, Motherhood and Advocacy.: Autistic Burnout

Autistic Regression and Fluid Adaptation | Musings of an Aspie

It's really bad because I used to be ok with talking to people, most loud noises bother me more then they used to, I find it harder to find the right words to use when speaking to somebody, my executive functions are ten times worse now (and they weren't that good to begin with).

 

[dudeman]

I guess you could call it "overdrive", but recently it seems like at least once a day, my brain will feel seriously overstimulated and have the equivalent of a Blue Screen Of Death and I have to go somewhere quiet, lay down and close my eyes for awhile to let my brain "reboot". Does anyone else have to do this?

 

[zurb]

I maintain that aspies are not slow in speech because they think slow, but because they think so much more and deeper, it takes longer.
I think this makes sense as Aspies have less natural pruning of neural pathways.

 

[Progster]

Yes, except when either:
a) depressed, or
b) in shutdown mode, when I can barely think at all!

 

[Progster]

I guess you could call it "overdrive", but recently it seems like at least once a day, my brain will feel seriously overstimulated and have the equivalent of a Blue Screen Of Death and I have to go somewhere quiet, lay down and close my eyes for awhile to let my brain "reboot". Does anyone else have to do this?

Yes, this is what I meant by shutdown (sorry about the double post!)

 

[zurb]

Some of my most serene times were as a kid when I'd just whacked my head on something by accident. That was like a reboot without the TSRs/background services loaded yet.

 

[clg114]

I do this all the time, there is always something going on in my mind. I also get sidetracked a lot. While reading about one thing, something else gets my interest. Then I have to ether write it down on a sticky note for later or go right to the new interest. My desk area is always covered in sticky notes. If I'm involved in something that is very complex, that's all I can think about. I just can't stop until I find a solution. Of course this does not help sleeping at all. I figured out a lot of problems in the middle of the night. I like being this way, after all my mind is my biggest source of entertainment.

 

[Kaylee]

100% agree, the worst part is when your mind seems to be racing but you cannot catch onto the thoughts, by this i mean the feeling when you feel like your mind is super active but you cannot tell what you are thinking about.

 

[Tom]

Wow, I have had that too. Thoughts going so fast I can't keep up. It hasn't happened often and usually was when trying to go to sleep... but it was really weird. I have felt my consciousness almost split then. One part zooming around wildly and the other just trying to hold on like a passenger in a out of control car with no driver.

 

[Bert95]

Do you feel that your mind usually seems to be operating at a faster RPM then NTs?

I do. Even in supposed relaxed situations my mind always seems to be thinking on this or that, sometimes fixated on something previous or having the situation bring new thoughts/ideas to mind.

And then there is the more or less continual mental demands of maintaining the mask and having to consciously decode the conversation and body language to decide what is actually being said or meant and deciding on appropriate response. Cause just abruptly singing a few lines of the TV show song 'Flipper', because it suddenly popped in your mind would be awkward...

An observant superior once made the comment that I 'Even idle at 60mph' because he caught me stimming with my leg and did not understand what it was.



Most times I do not mind the mental overflowing. Many thoughts come and go... I chew on ideas, insights or creative thoughts inevitably occur in all the mass of it. At night I have to really shut it down however to sleep, or when stressed find some mind numbing activity (like a video game, etc).

But It occurred to me to wonder if all this extra activity has any result or consequence on our minds. Like does it get over-used, fatigued, aged prematurely ? Or does it keep the mind in shape due to exercise?

Do you experience this extra active mind ?

I feel the same sometimes

 

[Knit Hat]

You can get autistic burnout which is what I think that I have been experiencing for the passed 3 years.

Autism, Motherhood and Advocacy.: Autistic Burnout

Autistic Regression and Fluid Adaptation | Musings of an Aspie

It's really bad because I used to be ok with talking to people, most loud noises bother me more then they used to, I find it harder to find the right words to use when speaking to somebody, my executive functions are ten times worse now (and they weren't that good to begin with).

Good to know there's an actual name for this. I've been going through this for the past year or so, now. I hate it.