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People on the Autism Spectrum and Sleep
- Thread starter Sportster
- Start date
I'm kind of abnormal. I go from awake to REM in under one minute consistently and proven in sleep studies.
They claimed it was narcolepsy but couldn't determine a reason for it.
My thoughts on it are the about the amount of visual processing that I do from being eidetic. When the sleep studies were performed,I had no idea I was on the spectrum or what being eidetic was.
When it is the time and a safe place for sleep,I go out instantly without hesitation.
They claimed it was narcolepsy but couldn't determine a reason for it.
My thoughts on it are the about the amount of visual processing that I do from being eidetic. When the sleep studies were performed,I had no idea I was on the spectrum or what being eidetic was.
When it is the time and a safe place for sleep,I go out instantly without hesitation.
I'm just a chronic night owl, when I sleep it's a very sound sleep, I rarely wake up. And I don't use any sleep aids.
My job starts at 7 AM in the morning, meaning I have to get up by about 5:30 AM I have tried to go to bed earlier (say 9 or even 10 PM) but I just can't. My average bedtime on weekdays is somewhere between 11 and midnight, so I'm averaging about five hours nightly during the work week. Probably not enough.
On weekends, I will typically "sleep in" until about 8 AM, that's all I need if I went to bed at midnight, which is fairly typical, I rarely stay up ultra-late on weekends.
My job starts at 7 AM in the morning, meaning I have to get up by about 5:30 AM I have tried to go to bed earlier (say 9 or even 10 PM) but I just can't. My average bedtime on weekdays is somewhere between 11 and midnight, so I'm averaging about five hours nightly during the work week. Probably not enough.
On weekends, I will typically "sleep in" until about 8 AM, that's all I need if I went to bed at midnight, which is fairly typical, I rarely stay up ultra-late on weekends.
OlLiE
Well-Known Member
i always used to have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, i had a brain scan while doing a sleep apnea test and it showed that as a result of minimal stress my brain wouldn't 'switch off' at all during my sleep so that i effectively didn't rest and woke up frequently
listening to a show i've seen many times (so i'm not intellectually engaged), helps distract me enough from 'racing thoughts/the thought of wanting to go to sleep' to fall asleep
my psychiatrist also prescribed a non addictive antidepressant that actually doesn't really work as an antidepressant, but that had the side effect of positively affecting sleep, now i sleep much better
listening to a show i've seen many times (so i'm not intellectually engaged), helps distract me enough from 'racing thoughts/the thought of wanting to go to sleep' to fall asleep
my psychiatrist also prescribed a non addictive antidepressant that actually doesn't really work as an antidepressant, but that had the side effect of positively affecting sleep, now i sleep much better
The only thing i have in common with einstein.
I can manage 12 hours,normally split into ten and two.
Give it another 40 years and ill be hoping for 24
I can manage 12 hours,normally split into ten and two.
Give it another 40 years and ill be hoping for 24
Tyrantus1212
An odd dinosaur. Yet a dinosaur.
I'm pretty similar in this aspect. I try to be as much of a night owl as possible but am forced to be the opposite on weeknights due to an early morning job. No sleep aids for me, and once I fall asleep I stay asleep unless something wakes me, and I do get woken pretty easily by a variety of noises.
Ok weekends I'm actually the opposite; I stay up ultra late - waaaaay late, sometimes as late as 6 or 7 am. That's almost my waking time for work! Even on weekdays I've been slacking off lately and going to sleep after midnight, sometimes even after 1 (it's 1:25 AM as I'm typing this). Way too much to do personally and work is robbing me of it all. I'm probably not getting enough sleep, but I can still concentrate at work.
I just want to be able to do as much as I can, because I only live once and I've already wasted such a big portion of my life on those world-infamous anxieties of mine. Granted, whoever reads this - pleas don't heed this advice and get as much sleep as you healthily can.
S0093679
Well-Known Member
I think its likely to be very common (but not exclusive) to ASD. PURE SPECULATION but.... I think that for some people on the spectrum the inability to go through normal sleep patterns may result from
1) sensory processing and the inability to process sufficiently during the daytime leading to restlessness of the brain function at night.
2) Trauma. We aspies often find the world scary or struggle to understand and navigate the modern world and all its idiosyncrasies, including the whole social thing, and it makes for a confusing heap of jumbled up-ness which can create a lot of distress on a regular basis for many of us. Stress and emotional upheaval is well known to cause sleep problems.
Personally, I have always had sleep problems. Often terrible nightmares which seep into day-mares if I dont get enough sleep. I regularly keep my husband awake with my movements, which he describes as my trying to (physically) fight demons at night. When upset or overstimulated (been too busy) I cant sleep for hours or sometimes not at all for several days. I cant regulate my own going to bed and getting up times and rely on my husband to do that for me. I used to take quetiapine as sleeping tablets, which worked well but also gradually removed my cognitive functions and made life very difficult for us all. I turned into a zombie so stopped taking them, which sent me a bit cuckoo for a year..... so no more sleeping tablets for me. Ever.
I am a gardener and 4 days a week work long days doing a physically demanding job, which does help me sleep as Im so exhausted, but when in distress it doesnt make any difference and I still wont sleep.
1) sensory processing and the inability to process sufficiently during the daytime leading to restlessness of the brain function at night.
2) Trauma. We aspies often find the world scary or struggle to understand and navigate the modern world and all its idiosyncrasies, including the whole social thing, and it makes for a confusing heap of jumbled up-ness which can create a lot of distress on a regular basis for many of us. Stress and emotional upheaval is well known to cause sleep problems.
Personally, I have always had sleep problems. Often terrible nightmares which seep into day-mares if I dont get enough sleep. I regularly keep my husband awake with my movements, which he describes as my trying to (physically) fight demons at night. When upset or overstimulated (been too busy) I cant sleep for hours or sometimes not at all for several days. I cant regulate my own going to bed and getting up times and rely on my husband to do that for me. I used to take quetiapine as sleeping tablets, which worked well but also gradually removed my cognitive functions and made life very difficult for us all. I turned into a zombie so stopped taking them, which sent me a bit cuckoo for a year..... so no more sleeping tablets for me. Ever.
I am a gardener and 4 days a week work long days doing a physically demanding job, which does help me sleep as Im so exhausted, but when in distress it doesnt make any difference and I still wont sleep.
xudo
something and nothing
I don't sleep that well. I wake up quite a lot in the night, unless I'm utterly exhausted (usually from going out and doing things). It usually takes me a while to fall asleep too, and I have to have some sort of noise in the background (usually put a documentary on). I frequently have a nap in the day too.
Idahocalypse
Ravenpaw
I stay awake all night and all morning, and sleep during the afternoons and evenings. And even though I'm on a lot of psychiatric medications for my comorbid mental illnesses, there are still many days when I only get about 6 hours of sleep total.
According to my mom, I've never slept well even when I was a baby, and never took naps when I was a toddler. I had insomnia as a child and the only time I slept soundly was when I slept in the same bed as my parents. I started my nighttime routine as a teenager after dropping out of school, and to this day it's the only schedule that works for me. Daytime is far too overstimulating.
According to my mom, I've never slept well even when I was a baby, and never took naps when I was a toddler. I had insomnia as a child and the only time I slept soundly was when I slept in the same bed as my parents. I started my nighttime routine as a teenager after dropping out of school, and to this day it's the only schedule that works for me. Daytime is far too overstimulating.
Gracey
Well-Known Member
I haven't had much success with sleep routines. One of my longest lasting jobs was working nights, it seemed easier to sleep during the day and work during the night? (Less activity or social requirements at night?)
I have tried a lot of different things that should help without success. To date I haven't tried prescription drugs, I'd assumed I'd find my own groove eventually as I have with so many other things. No progress to report thus far, perhaps I should give drugs a trial? Either that or find more night work
I have tried a lot of different things that should help without success. To date I haven't tried prescription drugs, I'd assumed I'd find my own groove eventually as I have with so many other things. No progress to report thus far, perhaps I should give drugs a trial? Either that or find more night work
Sabrina
Gentle & brave earthling
(My husband, me and my two kids, all aspies)
I used to have envy / indignation towards all those moms that would say: "my baby sleeps the whole night ever since he was a month old".
When my kid was older, the same feeling remained when everybody looked at me like "that is not normal" when I told that my daughter never slept a straight night until she was three, and even then, it was still a long time before she could have several nights of uninterrupted sleep.
My son didn't sleep through the night until he was five, and then, like my daughter, it would still be long time before he could reach some kind of normality. But then he would fall back to patterns if waking up in the middle of the night.
Ironically, when the kids would sleep, then I would wake up out of the blue in the middle of the night, sometimes going back to sleep (which is cool because the probabilities of having a lucid dream go up) or sometimes staying up until morning.
I remember one day when it suddenly dawned on me that my kids were a bit different. I'm talking with some moms about routines to go to sleep, and I say "I start taking them to sleep at 8 pm". There were four moms at that moment, and they all looked at me, bewildered, and said, almost in unison: "Start? What do you mean by start?".
So I answer: "well, I start tucking them in at 8, I finish half hour later more or less (a lie, I could finish easily at 9 or later), because they brush their teeth, we pray, read a book, then they decide to talk about their favorite subject at lenght or start making questions about God and life, or they remember that they had to bring something to school the next day ... " so I stopped talking because they were all watching me like I was crazy.
So I ask: "What do you do?" "Well, just take them to bed, tuck them in" Me: "And that's it? They just stay there and fall asleep" "Yes"
And I tell them in disbelief: "no... really? You just tell them "sleep" and they do it?"
"Yes" .
Ok...
I used to have envy / indignation towards all those moms that would say: "my baby sleeps the whole night ever since he was a month old".
When my kid was older, the same feeling remained when everybody looked at me like "that is not normal" when I told that my daughter never slept a straight night until she was three, and even then, it was still a long time before she could have several nights of uninterrupted sleep.
My son didn't sleep through the night until he was five, and then, like my daughter, it would still be long time before he could reach some kind of normality. But then he would fall back to patterns if waking up in the middle of the night.
Ironically, when the kids would sleep, then I would wake up out of the blue in the middle of the night, sometimes going back to sleep (which is cool because the probabilities of having a lucid dream go up) or sometimes staying up until morning.
I remember one day when it suddenly dawned on me that my kids were a bit different. I'm talking with some moms about routines to go to sleep, and I say "I start taking them to sleep at 8 pm". There were four moms at that moment, and they all looked at me, bewildered, and said, almost in unison: "Start? What do you mean by start?".
So I answer: "well, I start tucking them in at 8, I finish half hour later more or less (a lie, I could finish easily at 9 or later), because they brush their teeth, we pray, read a book, then they decide to talk about their favorite subject at lenght or start making questions about God and life, or they remember that they had to bring something to school the next day ... " so I stopped talking because they were all watching me like I was crazy.
So I ask: "What do you do?" "Well, just take them to bed, tuck them in" Me: "And that's it? They just stay there and fall asleep" "Yes"
And I tell them in disbelief: "no... really? You just tell them "sleep" and they do it?"
"Yes" .
Ok...
Sabrina
Gentle & brave earthling
I've never taken any medication, but I used melatonin for a while and rescue pills (bach). I'm not sure if they worked or not, actually. I'm not taking anything right now. Last year I had a few months of good sleep because I was swimming several days a week. Then I got a sprained ankle, stopped swimming, and I got back to having troubles with sleep.
toothless
this is mr shadow,my support cat
i have had severe sleep issues since a baby,the only thing that has ever helped me was melatonin,but i got took off that and put on the useless zopiclone;when i wanted to get back on melatonin they told me the licence for giving melatonin has changed and its no longer allowed for autistic adults like it used to be-only for under 18s.
however my new shrink is going to be writing to my GP to tell her to put me on it as a special case,hes altering other medications first and wants to make changes slowly.
im on 20mg of amitryptaline for nerve damage and sleep but it doesnt have an affect on my sleep and i wake up constantly.
it doesnt help that i also have sleep apnea also though,which when i stop breathing wakes me up,im supposed to used my CPAP breathing machine but i cant get used to having air forcd down my throat.
i am exhausted during the day,and have naps from total exhaustion.
i have quit all energy drinks [now on 9th day without them,the last time i lived without energy drinks was when i was 15],no affect on my sleep,i only drank them up to 6pm anyway.
however my new shrink is going to be writing to my GP to tell her to put me on it as a special case,hes altering other medications first and wants to make changes slowly.
im on 20mg of amitryptaline for nerve damage and sleep but it doesnt have an affect on my sleep and i wake up constantly.
it doesnt help that i also have sleep apnea also though,which when i stop breathing wakes me up,im supposed to used my CPAP breathing machine but i cant get used to having air forcd down my throat.
i am exhausted during the day,and have naps from total exhaustion.
i have quit all energy drinks [now on 9th day without them,the last time i lived without energy drinks was when i was 15],no affect on my sleep,i only drank them up to 6pm anyway.
If it's covered under your insurance, consider getting a sleep study done. You might be suggested to use a device that helps you breathe and sleep better rather than medicine. Maybe medicine is the best for some of you, and for others a device or both may be more acceptable if appropriate.
Not sure if my ASD has anything to do with it??, but my sleep habits are a little odd. I never really slept in the same bed at the same places a lot when I was a kid. I don't even like laying down that much at all. I would rather kind of curl up in a recliner most the time...
It doesn't seem to matter what time I go to bed I wake up at like 4:01 - 4:06am every morning. Then everyday around 2pm I get very sleepy, which is about right now... I sometimes can stay awake, and sometimes I have take a nap, if I cant snap past it.
It doesn't seem to matter what time I go to bed I wake up at like 4:01 - 4:06am every morning. Then everyday around 2pm I get very sleepy, which is about right now... I sometimes can stay awake, and sometimes I have take a nap, if I cant snap past it.
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