Does it ever feel like you can't stop thinking?

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I once tried to explain this idea to my dad. Non-stop thinking, especially when trying to sleep. It gets in the way! The constant music in my head, the constant thought, the usually constant need for movement of my legs (restless leg syndrome). It all makes sleeping difficult.

I used to get sent up to the school's office a lot as a child, and I could pass time quickly then with just thought alone. I have the stereotyped "zone out" thing. Can be a problem trying to watch news, in classes, talking with people (when it isn't my interest), all sorts of things.

I don't know if constant thought is normal or not, but I've thought about it. I just can't imagine not thinking, or whatever would be considered "normal" thought (assuming constant thought isn't normal).

I thought - used to think - that people who said they didn't think all the time were lying. Being smug. Saying that I was trying to sound special and too clever- by-half. Till I started to realise that I have AS. And, I have to disagree with a lot of you, to me thinking all the time is easily the absolute worst aspect of my "condition".

Yes, there is never any calm in my mind. Constant chattering thoughts in my head ALL the time. No rest. It makes it hard to concentrate on anything else. Also, about 3/4 of the stuff in my head I can't tell people verbally or write down which is really annoying.

yes i am also always considering things i present to myself.
at a certain point after many hours ( like 40 or so), i feel i can take a break and the world will happen without me.
i sleep with no concern for any earthly situation, and i wake 10 hours later and start again to explore my selfish notions.

one doctor who i had coined a term for me which was "hyper frenetic"
but my care about what i find out in my minds pursuits is not great, so i can sleep well.

The other night I couldn't sleep because I just kept thinking. It was a really bizarre thought too. I had been thinking about Samurai Jack and remembered that they never finished off the show, they just stopped making episodes. So I finished it off in my head. Because Samurai Jack involves some time travel it took me a while to make an ending that didn't result in a paradox, but I think I managed it (though it did involve splitting the time line).

In an odd way, I have this problem, but lately I've been getting the opposite...or I'm just going senile.

Mind racing so I can't sleep? Hardly ever. I've learned taking some B complex and melatonin does wonders to "calm down" my brain when I'm like that, and it's not often.

However, I do find myself jumping from thought to thought. I talk to myself aloud (a lot) because I seem to enjoy vocalizing my thoughts, and it's amazing how quickly I can "switch tracks" in mid-thought.

Lately, though, I seem to be doing well to have a blank slate, but I think it's more about the fact that I find stuff I can "tune out" to. I'll actually watch a DVD of a show or movie I've seen a dozen or more times just to silence my thoughts for an hour or so.

I can't stand the silence.

Then again, I have extremely vivid dreams....I almost prefer being in a dream state than awake.

Wait... So when I'm sitting in the bus and just thinking, I don't even realise where I am... Just sitting in my own thoughts... Is that also a zone-out??

It's next to impossible to switch my mind off - I've always seen this as a good thing, except for the times I can't fall asleep because of it.

Yes, my mind doesn't switch off. I quite often find Sunday evenings the worse for some reason. I found by lying still in one position before sleeping and concentrating on one thing would finally help me to drift off to sleep.

On my mind topic

As sbcmetroguy wrote, this is why multitasking is difficult.

It is like being lost in a daydream. But it does not shut down so easily when you want to sleep.

Yep, I've had a hyperactive brain for as long as I can remember- a major annoyance when I'm trying to get some sleep!

Growing up my dad used to tell me that worrying doesn't solve problems. That was my first cue that I thought about things far more than the average person. When I was 13, I used to dread bedtime. This was my first experience with obsessive thinking, although I didn't realise at the time that that was what I was doing. I'd lay there with thought after thought after thought racing and/or wandering through my mind. The subject matter was all over the place, as it usually was, but for whatever reason at this time, my thoughts would always end with me feeling very anxious and stressed about what I would do when the day came that I'd fall asleep and not hear my parents breathing and or snoring down the hall. How would I handle them not existing? How could I exist in a world without them? Would I forget my mom's aging hands? Would I always remember my Dad's calming voice? etc etc etc etc Hearing them snore only reminded me that one day I wouldn't anymore. I hated it and it scared the crap out of me, so for about a period of 2 or so months, I'd go to bed with a feeling of doom. Then one day, it just didn't happen anymore. The thoughts still did, but the death obsession subsided.

Falling asleep has always been difficult, not impossible however, as I learned to just sort of ride all my thoughts until I drift off.

I recall when I was 18 a friend saying to me "Sue, I LOVE the way your mind works ....but I'd hate to be you" Having random, varied thoughts has helped me come off as witty, funny, quick, and smart. I analyze just about everything. At work we wear earplugs, and as I stand there all day with ...well...myself, I find myself observing and studying the people around me. Sometimes I don't feel like I need to talk to people, if I have enough time to step back and observe them, I can usually gather what they're about. This comes from a lifetime of thought after thought.

At 24, 3 years after my son was born, and 3 yrs after day in day out obsessive thinking (I wasn't obsessed with any particular subject, but my continuous thought processes always lead to negative when the positive ran out)... I finally checked myself into the crisis centre at our local hospital. I was completely, 110% overwhelmed with the simple fact that I could not stop thinking. It was leading to anxiety and panic. I've often commented to my spouse that if only I could apply all of that thinking to something worth while, I'd have it made!

Thinking has been both my dearest friend, and my constant enemy. It's weird to me that I can think that much, yet still be unable to see the bigger picture, and get tripped up in all the details.....arg!

I think a lot too. I like it, except when I'm supposed to be paying attention to someone. The only time I can switch off is if I get really into a book or movie.

This happens to me too. It can be intrusive especially when trying to get to sleep.

Curiously this same phenomenon has been observed in the early stages of meditation. And the state of intense focus we aspies may have when involved in our subjects of interest can have similarities to this stage of meditation...

Thank you - this thread has been very reassuring to me. As usual, I feel less of a freak having read what you have to say. Maybe that will be one less thing to think about now....

think, think, think, think...just can't stop it...and it is sometimes about the dumbest things, like if only I said something in a given situation and second guessing other minds...

it's difficult to shut it off...it is an impairment...sometimes it yields some useful thoughts, you bend back in so much that you can be in touch with what triggers your emotions and attitudes, but it can be unhealthy...