Trouble sleeping when it's dark.

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I've noticed i find it harder to sleep when it's dark. If I got to sleep during the day, it's very easy. I also feel very depressed at night. I'm not scared of the dark, but i just feel very down at night. And it seems that tonight, just like the last few days, will be me up allnight on this laptop or watching tv.

Is it the silence that bothered you too? that tends to bother me at night, I have to leave the window open to have at least a little background noise.

I can't say I can relate, exactly. I am afraid of the dark. Perhaps not so much silly stuff like the idea of monsters hiding under my bed or in my closet or whatever, but just not being able to see anything.

As for noise, I always have two fans running, even if it's already cold as hell. Can't stand complete silence.

When I was 15, I had the same problem frequently. It is especially hard if you have to go to school and have been up all night. Have you tried a melatonin product? I have heard it helps.

I sleep with the light on.

Quite the opposite, I love a dark room. Any significant source of light and it's more difficult to sleep for me.

another opposite, the less light the better, troughout my entire life actually.
the twilight times (during sunrise/set), are when i feel most happy with the light levels being awake, and when sleeping, it can't be dark enough.

I don't find it difficult to sleep under any extreme circumstances; light, dark, loud or quiet. I prefer at least a night light if possible, but that's because I don't want to fall over something when I get up to go to the bathroom. I sometimes forget to turn the light off, but I sleep fine anyway, and if it's off, same thing. In fact, I once fell sound asleep sitting in the bleachers at a crowded, LOUD stadium!

Charles

I once made a replica "arc reactor" with a variation of the Armstrong Oscillator circuit, and use it as a night light now. Every night before I sleep I stare at the dim, grayish light that it casts on my ceiling.

I sleep with the light on and play a documentary on my phone off YouTube every night I think its so my mind is occupied.

When I was growing up, I had to share my room with my older sister for a while, and she liked the radio playing. My girlfriend likes the fan on for background noise. Both kinds of sound are hard for me to fall asleep by, though the radio was worse. At least the fan is consistent. Her snoring, however, is not.

I find the two things that make it hardest for me to sleep are a busy head and the physical discomfort of the sensations I feel while lying in bed. I have to readjust in minor ways for quite a while before my body calms down enough for me to rest. I'm surprised my girlfriend has never complained about this in all the years we've been together - not even once - not even if I need to do it while we're curled up together, which means I have additional pressure on my body to deal with and am squirming around even more! I always knew I was doing this, but it wasn't until last night that a little light went on in my head, and I said to myself, "Ah! Sensory issues!" (The "little light" didn't keep me up, though. )

If I'm in the same position too long, especially if it's without sleeping, I have to turn over, or else I get nasty pain in my hip and/or shoulder. Sometimes turning helps. At other times, it just gets me more awake. If I need to adjust my position, whether in a large or small way, and I find I can't for some reason, that drives me nuts and really prevents me from going to sleep.

In this regard I have no clear idea where my fibromyalgia is distinct from what may be Asperger's related sensory issues.

Wanna have a really hard time sleeping? Try it during the day, after you've had to move back in with your parents for a while, with the TV blaring downstairs, with your mother having chatted with you before you turn in, so that your head is busy and you have less time than ever (cutting into your five hours or so) to sleep before taking an awkwardly scheduled bus system back to your night job, where you work a lot of overtime and have to deal with a harassing coworker. That's what I had to do when I was 18. That was rough. The environment at home was always stressful to begin with, and this made life so much harder to manage. But my mother really missed me, so I never stopped her from talking to me. I just dealt with it. (She passed away in 2001, after we'd worked out a lot of stuff and had become friends, so I'm not sorry for the sacrifice I made in letting her talk.)

I have adapted to sleeping in the light over the last few years because I worked third shift full-time for three years, so I had to. My ideal sleeping environment is dark with at least one fan running on high, air conditioning is even better. I want it to be as cold as possible. I usually have my TV on. For the past couple of months it's been the same movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And I love heavy blankets/comforters, they make me feel so relaxed and comforted. Lots of pillows.

I can sleep at night, in the dark, but I am naturally inclined to gravitate towards day/light sleeping if I have the chance. My sleep pattern tends to correct itself to staying up until 5am then sleeping until 1pm or so, and I never have a problem sleeping when its light, whereas it does take a long time for me to fall asleep in the dark.

I have to sleep with my lamp on.