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People on the Autism Spectrum and Sleep

When it comes to sleep, I . . .

  • Sleep normally without any help.

    Votes: 9 28.1%

  • Do not sleep well.

    Votes: 12 37.5%

  • Fall asleep at abnormal times or in unusual places.

    Votes: 8 25.0%

  • Take sleeping medication, but it doesn’t seem to help.

    Votes: 1 3.1%

  • Take sleeping medication that does help.

    Votes: 2 6.3%
  • Total voters
    32
  • Poll closed .
I'm definitely a night owl,I don't find falling asleep easy and I also need to have no noise because I can't sleep with any noise like the tv being on but small noises can get to me too,I find my mind is more active at night and that's also when I usually draw and sometimes I will stay up until around 3 am.
 
I've always had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, too.
My mother said that when I was about 3, she couldn't get me to so much as go to bed before 10 pm or so, and even after that, it would take a good hour to have me fall asleep --an hour spent discussing the weirdest questions, reading stories, falling asleep while reading (she would fall asleep, not me), and so on. And then I would randomly wake up in the middle of the night.
By the time I was in college, my schedule had switched to going to sleep around 3 or 4 am, and waking up around 1 or 2 pm (don't judge me, but you should have seen the look on that professor's face at a 4pm class I ran late to when I apologized for oversleeping).
Even now, if I'm left to fall asleep naturally, it won't happen before sunrise. I do blame my messed up circadian rhythm to some extent, but there's also the fact that nights are pretty much the only quiet time, so I enjoy being awake, and I'd much rather sleep through the noisy, hectic daytime. Sad thing is, I need lots of sleep, and even the most minor sound will wake me up.

Medication has never helped, from whatever I was prescribed aged 8 to various types as an adult. I was put for a few months on something to fall asleep coupled with something to stay asleep, and the only thing that ever happened was me feeling that my body was going numb, but remaining wide awake, now terrorized that I was somehow paralyzed and floating between awake and asleep.
Melatonin does help me get some better sleep, with less interruptions.

Oh, on a side note: I don't feel I'm on a 24-hr rhythm, more like 27 to 30 hours. Makes it even harder to stick to a proper schedule... Anybody else ever felt that way?
 
I have trouble getting to sleep, but once asleep things are fine.

However, about 4 or 5 times a year I get superduperinsomnia. I had one of those last week so I hope it's done for a few months.
 
I was on melatonin for 3 years and now I sleep better than ever but still fall asleep at irregular times!!
 
For the teenage girl autistic, could night time be a more peaceful time, and she stays awake because she feels more relaxed, knowing that nobody will bother her? I know I get that feeling when everyone else goes to sleep and I'm still up. Similarly, arriving at work before everyone else or working after everyone else really works well. Or even being home alone.

Not to discount all the sleeping problems that you all have. And the research that shows it.

Falling asleep is easy, except when I'm stressed. Then the technicolor movie plays in my mind and it's not happening.

Even so, I'm a light sleeper, waking at least 3 times a night.
 
I'm a very light sleeper, but I generally don't have any trouble falling asleep. The trouble is that when my boyfriend's out at night, I keep waking up involuntarily every hour or so, noticing he's not home and falling asleep again. No trouble sleeping when he's home or when he's gone for the weekend though :p
 
All this information is so good. My natural sleep rhythm all my life is to go to sleep at 3 or 4 AM and wake about 6 hours - maybe later- or take a nap in mid day. I had a job for years when I had to be at work at 7AM and it was struggle hell. I did it - most of the time - but it was a constant struggle. I usually took a nap in my car at lunch. If I have acid reflux or am agitated, my sleep is light, otherwise I sleep hard. My dad had the same issues. My mom and brother are awake at 5 AM. I figured I was like my dad.
 
For me, it was cortisol resistance which would knock me out of sleep at 2-3 am and not be able to get back to sleep. And I couldn't get sleepy earlier than 11 pm so I was a mess. This was all stress-induced.

  • I started wearing amber lensed sunglasses after sundown to block blue light; now I just use salt lamps or amber shaded lamps, and have sundown settings on my reading devices.
  • I take pregnenolone, a hormone precursor, every day. Read about "pregnenolone steal."
  • weighted blanket; and now, in the summer, a weighted lap pad
  • deep sleep program on my Brainwaves app
  • sleep mask
I've gone 3 to 11 on the sleep scale :)
 
I can sleep with lights,music or a television on. They have no effect on my sleeping.

I don't think I can be woke up by being startled very readily,and if I have an alarm set,I usually wake up 5 minutes before it was set to go off.

My usual routines is an early rise with my feet on the floor by 5 am.
 
I have always had problems sleeping. As a kid, taking naps was impossible for me and I even told my mom that I didn't know how to sleep. Nowadays, I take medication and sometimes that doesn't even work. I need to have a fan on too because complete silence makes it even worse for me.
 
I've always been one of those 9-10 hour sleepers. All my life, I've never had sleep issues/insomnia. I'm also a very deep sleeper - some have said that it's almost impossible to wake me up, and when they do, I can become very angry. :-(

I also have very vivid dreams. Always have - in fact, I can even do "lucid dreaming" - whenever I'm having a nightmare, I can control the outcome by saying, "this is a nightmare," and then I change the dream to something pleasant, which often involves either flying or swimming away...

The only time I struggle with sleep is when I've been drinking. Booze messes up my sleep process - I'll wake up throughout the night and feel groggy the next day.
 
The choice I need isnt there. I do need help to sleep, but not in the form of medication. I need my weighted blanket, without it I wake up nearly every hour and never get the deep restful sleep I need to be functional the next day. So, yes I need help to sleep, just not medication. Mike
 
I like being a nightowl. Always tried to get night shifts.
This way I can keep my sleep pattern regular.
Stay up until 4-5 am then sleep until 10 am. Eat breakfast and go back to bed and finish my 8 hours off. So I really don't start getting ready to do much until the early afternoon.
But, I do sleep very soundly and fall asleep in a minute when I do go to bed. Dreaming is a big thing with me, too. Vivid dreams. Lucid dreams. Very little sleep without the dream world. Not much on nightmares. Usually it's like being somewhere awake and experiencing things while I sleep.
Like the old cowboy I guess. Each night begins a new day.
 
I've always had issues sleeping at night. So much, that I'll sometimes feel really tired and out of it all day, maybe I'll go back to bed for a few hours to just try to get some sleep.
 
I don't have sleeping issues, on the contrary I sleep very easily through anything, once I take my hearing aid out and my head hits the Pillow I'm gone for the night.

Unless I have to get up to use the Bathroom of course.
 
I'm a very light sleeper and often find it hard to get to sleep or keep waking up during the night, or wake up early in the morning and unable to get back to sleep. I often feel very drowsy in the afternoon. I find that keeping to a routine helps, not allowing myself to sleep in the afternoon and winding down in the evening.
 
Lots of people, not just people with Austism/Asperger's, have sleep issues... It's not just us

Also, not sure how many of you don't work, perhaps haven't worked in a long time... From other people I've known, it's difficult to establish sleep patterns when you don't work, I've known some people on disability who have odd sleep patterns, often stay up extremely late into early hours of the morning...

Five days a week I have to be at work for 7 AM, meaning I get up at 5:30 AM, that alone regulates when I have to be in bed at night to get at least a reasonable sleep...
 
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