Function better while sleepy?

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Has anyone noticed this tendency? I find that I can get a lot more done when I'm sleepy. Mildly, not falling-over kind of sleepy. I think it numbs me to the usual stressors and anxiety. It's best if I've woken up too early and not gotten back to sleep for whatever reason. It makes me kind of zombie-like, harder to upset and I find it easier to focus on the stuff I'm doing and my mind wanders less. I wonder if there's a way to achieve this without being unhealthy and getting enough sleep. I'd never take prozac or something like that to achieve this though, I don't like the idea of that sort of medication unless someone is harming themselves or others.

I'm currently taking Seroquel, an anti-psychotic medication with sedative properties. It was prescribed to me for anxiety. I only recently began taking it, and was advised to start off at a low dosage; therefore the effects are only slightly noticeable so far. I can, however, indeed attest to the relative sedation helping me to achieve some relief from those agitating sensory overloads. Still, I'm only at 75mg/day and have more experimenting to do. But it may be an option well worth considering. I understand the aversion involved in taking pills to cope. But Prozac is an SSRI and works a bit differently. You may want to research other types of drugs such as Seroquel, so that you no longer have to resort to sleep deprivation in order to get by.

I've actually been on several types of sedative medication, hence why I don't believe in them. The side effects suck and I would never touch them again unless I couldn't function normally anymore. Plus they didn't have nearly as good an effect. They didn't make me feel good and at peace like I sometimes to when I'm kind of sleep deprived, or slightly drunk. They just made me either too sleepy to function or had no effect. It was never "just right", so to say.

I haven't noticed sleepiness affecting my performance for the better, but at times when I've been feeling very sad, there's sometimes been a tendency for me to work more calmly and effectively....seems to be something to do with reduced anxiety during the melancholy stage, though it can easily swing into losing the ability to bother doing anything at all. So I don't recommend it as a way of enabling oneself.

When I'm sleepy my 'beast mode' kicks in and keeps me more alert.

Yeah, I've also noticed that I get more done when I'm sleepy. However, it's also harder to get myself to work in that state, as well as studying my material while I'm doing it. I'd say it's not worth it in the long run, although it depends on what's better, work completion or good memorization. When I'm tired, I tend to focus more on the minute details and it's hard for me to put everything I've learned together in my mind to create a full picture.

As for the meds, I refuse to touch SSRIs, and Seroquel too, due to weight gain. I might try Ritalin/Concerta when I'm out of school so that in case my insomnia becomes more severe (sleep difficulties is a side effect), my marks won't suffer. I know one person with AS who is taking SSRIs and he's gained a LOT of weight because of it. These side effects can be very strong.