'Aspie Tired' vs. 'NT Sleepy' - Do we experience this differently?

[FlowerChild]

I'm just wondering how many of us Aspies here think we might experience tiredness or fatigue differently to NTs? I know the feeling of sleepiness that comes on before bedtime, or if I haven't slept enough the night before, and I assume this is what NTs refer to when they say they feel 'tired'. However what I'm wondering about is whether any of you get days where you are so far beyond tired it borders on debilitating fatigue? I am in university, and as most of my work is related to special interests, I find I can just zone out for days on end for research papers. The final day before the deadline I will put 16 hours straight into re-drafting, calibrating my prose, and final revisions; I feel so hyper-focussed I don't even think to eat, and often lose track of time (or fail to notice the sun's gone down for example, and am surprised to look up and see it's dark). The day after however, I am, for all intents and purposes, completely useless. Do you guys ever experience this too? Do your special interests burn you out? I feel like the human body was honestly not built to withstand the demands of the autistic brain! If they say humans use a small percentage of the brain, I feel like us Aspies sometimes double that quota or something when zoning into special interests; it's an other-worldly sort of feeling, almost super-human (but part of that is probably adrenaline!). Part of me wonders if the stimming also exhausts me; one of the big reasons I avoid socialising, is because I have to be so still in public, and when I get home, I need a solid six hours to stim, rock back and forth, etc. to 'come back down' and feel comfortable then.

But when I get tired, it's just a completely different tired to what I think NTs experience. For example I was supposed to have class this morning at ten, but I just submitted a paper last night, and even though I 'woke up' today, it took over an hour of turning off nearly two dozen alarms, and even by late afternoon, I still didn't feel awake, functional, or capable of doing mundane tasks like washing the dishes or just walking to the bathroom even. There was no way in hell I was actually going to make it to class today - I genuinely wanted to be there, but the expenditure of energy required to get dressed, walk there, etc, was just too much today. Everything feels like too big an ask; I am in a perfectly fine mood and quite content (I don't think this is depression or anything, as it's very strongly correlated to days following lots of socialising or a strong extensive period of focus on special interests), I'm just 'dead to the world' sort of? Do any of you feel similarly? Thanks for your input!

 

[wanderer03]

I'm just wondering how many of us Aspies here think we might experience tiredness or fatigue differently to NTs? I know the feeling of sleepiness that comes on before bedtime, or if I haven't slept enough the night before, and I assume this is what NTs refer to when they say they feel 'tired'. However what I'm wondering about is whether any of you get days where you are so far beyond tired it borders on debilitating fatigue? I am in university, and as most of my work is related to special interests, I find I can just zone out for days on end for research papers. The final day before the deadline I will put 16 hours straight into re-drafting, calibrating my prose, and final revisions; I feel so hyper-focussed I don't even think to eat, and often lose track of time (or fail to notice the sun's gone down for example, and am surprised to look up and see it's dark). The day after however, I am, for all intents and purposes, completely useless. Do you guys ever experience this too? Do your special interests burn you out? I feel like the human body was honestly not built to withstand the demands of the autistic brain! If they say humans use a small percentage of the brain, I feel like us Aspies sometimes double that quota or something when zoning into special interests; it's an other-worldly sort of feeling, almost super-human (but part of that is probably adrenaline!). Part of me wonders if the stimming also exhausts me; one of the big reasons I avoid socialising, is because I have to be so still in public, and when I get home, I need a solid six hours to stim, rock back and forth, etc. to 'come back down' and feel comfortable then.

But when I get tired, it's just a completely different tired to what I think NTs experience. For example I was supposed to have class this morning at ten, but I just submitted a paper last night, and even though I 'woke up' today, it took over an hour of turning off nearly two dozen alarms, and even by late afternoon, I still didn't feel awake, functional, or capable of doing mundane tasks like washing the dishes or just walking to the bathroom even. There was no way in hell I was actually going to make it to class today - I genuinely wanted to be there, but the expenditure of energy required to get dressed, walk there, etc, was just too much today. Everything feels like too big an ask; I am in a perfectly fine mood and quite content (I don't think this is depression or anything, as it's very strongly correlated to days following lots of socialising or a strong extensive period of focus on special interests), I'm just 'dead to the world' sort of? Do any of you feel similarly? Thanks for your input!

Sometimes I wonder if I'm not actually more "world weary" than tired. It is wearisome to have to fit into a world not designed for someone on the spectrum to live in. Life presents itself with daily challenges for which to overcome. Some days these challenges are an interesting mental exercise but on most days I find myself asking, "Why am I this way?"

 

[Suzanne]

I am still recovering from a social evening on sunday just gone! And could not wait to get home and be myself again and it has left me feeling completely unmotivated to doing the ordinary things around the house!

I found that the mask I was wearing, felt that it was slipping from me and that caused me to have a sort of surreal feeling.

I can be exhausted but can't sleep. But I am very good when it comes to bedtime; it is just I do not go to sleep straight away, but reason that at least I am in bed lol

I was a hostess last friday and that still is taking out of me and yet, I am once again a hostess this friday and honestly, would rather not go through with it and someone I spoke to, did say that if I am not careful, I will completely miss the point of what hospitality is! Well I know what the point of it is, but no matter how far in beween the invites are given, I will never feel comfortable being a hostess and so, have to just get on with it.

My husband does not seem to react the same way as me and that is even if he felt overwhelmed.

 

[wanderer03]

I am still recovering from a social evening on sunday just gone! And could not wait to get home and be myself again and it has left me feeling completely unmotivated to doing the ordinary things around the house!

I found that the mask I was wearing, felt that it was slipping from me and that caused me to have a sort of surreal feeling.

I can be exhausted but can't sleep. But I am very good when it comes to bedtime; it is just I do not go to sleep straight away, but reason that at least I am in bed lol

I was a hostess last friday and that still is taking out of me and yet, I am once again a hostess this friday and honestly, would rather not go through with it and someone I spoke to, did say that if I am not careful, I will completely miss the point of what hospitality is! Well I know what the point of it is, but no matter how far in beween the invites are given, I will never feel comfortable being a hostess and so, have to just get on with it.

My husband does not seem to react the same way as me and that is even if he felt overwhelmed.

Very understandable!

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

I don't seem to have a 'slightly tired' setting, I go from 'completely fine' to 'so tired I want to cry' without any in between point where I can think "maybe I should go to bed now". This might be because I get so absorbed in what I'm doing that I simply don't notice...

 

[Mia]

Yes I do, recall when I was at school and my roomate left in the early morning, and returned eleven hours later. She looked into my room and said 'you haven't moved from that same position since I left." Apparently I hadn't, don't think I even got up from my desk to eat or drink water. Now if I could use that kind of focus for something other than art, it's as if time continues on all around me, but I'm not part of it, I'm in another place.

Thinking back, that kind of extreme focus, where you don't do anything but the thing that is your interest, would be hard on the body. You would have pushed yourself too far, without even noticing. Oblivious to your own needs, your body would respond to these extremes with fatigue.

 

[Progster]

Yep, I've been feeling like that for the last week or so, and not sleeping very well either, I feel completely burn out and taking one day at a time.

 

[wanderer03]

Yep, I've been feeling like that for the last week or so, and not sleeping very well either, I feel completely burn out and taking one day at a time.

Sorry to hear man. One day at a time is a good philosophy. I do much the same thing. It's been a very hard week, but instead of bein rueful, in many ways I'm proud that I survived it without a complete meltdown, just a mini one.

 

[hiraeth]

I feel like a huge part of "aspie tired" is overstimulated senses. A lot of times when I have a sudden attack of intense fatigue (often after being outside for some time), I will just lie in bed for a while under the covers with my eyes closed, I won't necessarily fall asleep, but after a while I'll feel better again.

I have a case of "world weariness" too. But I don't think that's due to aspergers.

 

[SingaSong]

I experienced two types of tiredness. The first relates to being physically tired or possibly mentally tired through having done activities. Generally I will begin to get tired and need to go to bed. I suspect this is experienced by a lot of experienced by a lot of NTs.

I also experience sudden extreme fatigue, which I think relates to socialising and meeting to try to interpret the world. This comes on very suddenly.

 

[wanderer03]

I feel like a huge part of "aspie tired" is overstimulated senses. A lot of times when I have a sudden attack of intense fatigue (often after being outside for some time), I will just lie in bed for a while under the covers with my eyes closed, I won't necessarily fall asleep, but after a while I'll feel better again.

I have a case of "world weariness" too. But I don't think that's due to aspergers.

Overstimulation can be extremely stressful! The feeling is certainly not foreign to me.

 

[Warmheart]

Yes, fatigue seem quite sudden, when it comes. Sensory overload over too long a period of time, trying too long to decode mysteries of social interactions with serious social energy drain, plus some anxiety and emotional days regulation fuel this tiredness.

I also have a sort of "social migraine" following too much social interaction, which leaves us completely exhausted and unable to function.

Shutdowns descend out of nowhere, too... Or rather, I am too challenged with awareness to notice when I'm overwhelmed for so long prior to the shutdown. For me with my autism, shutdowns really do happen often and quickly. Shutdown are a whole nother level of tiredness, with a state of brain fog, heavy limbs, and thick, slow speech... Or no speech at all.

 

[Cali Cat]

Yes, I feel that kind of tiredness after a period of deep focus on special interests, or after being exposed to a prolonged period of sensory overload and/or high drama. There was a time when I actually thought I was bipolar because I seemed to have so much energy one day while focusing on something important to me, and then have no energy or ability to perform the next day. I really have to pace myself because of this. For instance, I have to put limits on how long I can allow myself to work on a project at one time. I have to set reminders to eat, and to sleep if necessary. In the NT world, I can't function properly if I can't manage my energy properly.