How do you make your brain "stop"?

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This is certainly a problem for those of us on the spectrum, and in my instance, it has led to a lot of self-medication-- BAD!! !

This overactive brain common among autistics is a chemical condition and while I have not pursued the oft-recommended method of mediation (I can't get my brain to calm down enough for it!), I have tried to use this overactive brain to my advantage. But it can be a real problem when trying to get to sleep at night, because it just doesn't stop-- not at 11 PM, not at midnight, not at 3, 4, or even 5 in the morning... my doctor has prescribed me Klonopin, a benzodiazepine, and Clonidine, a blood pressure relaxant, to help me get to sleep, and so far it's working. So long as you are able to get eight hours of sleep per day, with or without chemical help, then I would say do what I do and use the overactive brain to your advantage.

Check out "Problem Child," my published memoir of life with autism.

Meditation has helped me in recent years.

I think regular exercise helps my over active brain a little bit.

For me smoking pot was great - in total control - haven't smoked in some 30 years - looked for something that would be simular found Kava Kava - it doesn't do as well but it is a helper - I do the pills you don't even know it till latter you you think it's been a fairly calm night - but still not pot - my thoughts run wide and the only true help is pot but as I said not for some 30 years - I can be absorbed in programming and I get lose there but then I'm back to running

I usually have a lot of trouble shutting my brain off when its on especially when I have a song stuck in my head. Sometimes drinking booze helps though and or closing my eyes and visualizing I am in a safe serene place with oceanic waves crashing.

Just microwave your leftovers, without adding water, and then eat.

Youll get the sensation that a lump of concrete is in your stomach, and all of the blood will leave your brain for your stomach and it will be impossible to stay awake even if you tried.

NOTHING works. I go for a walk, play games, read posts on here and anywhere else I can find, draw, try to relax in a quiet place- it never shuts off! I can't have even a moment of peace. Even when I'm talking to people I'm constantly thinking about random and off-the-wall stuff. People think I'm absolutely nuts at times when I go off about stuff going on inside my brain. The worst part is when I start thinking about negative things. I hate it.

Video games will calm my brain down in all but the most extreme of cases.

Other than that, I got nothing.

In my almost 42 years, I haven't found a dang thing that successfully makes my brain shut the hell up.
Most of the time it just rattles on and on about completely useless, non productive stuff.

I have no choice but to live with the madness.

I think what you're looking for is how to silence your thinking. I've been working on how to do this for about 9yrs so I have some experience. For most of that time I was reading books by Eckhart Tolle and didn't get anywhere with him as he doesn't explain things in a way that works for me at all. Then more recently I discovered Vipasanna meditation. After spending many months doing emotions meditations (these are hard to do in themselves) I was really getting somewhere. Most of my pain and breakdowns are gone and I don't really have serious asperger's problems any more. Since then I've been trying to do breath meditations. By focusing on your breath you silence your mind and get a sense of when you are / aren't thinking.

I recommend looking up Vipasanna for anyone, whether you are looking to quieten your mind or just feel better all the time.

I try to channel it into writing or some other special interest. Learning something is a great way to take advantage of it.

But otherwise I have never known how to stop it and usually head for a brain crash and then shutdown.

I'm not sure if I could concentrate on trying not to concentrate (meditating???), but it sure sounds nice. I've come to the conclusion that I am best in quiet spaces, left alone. The less stimulation, the better.