I used to be unable to get to sleep at all.
My mother would get super mad when she'd find me wide awake at midnight or after (up till age 10).
I'd just get by on about 5-6 hours a night without problems.
Then I started needing more. Maybe it was because our family grew in size, or because of the huge stress of high school.
I lied awake for hours on end, stressing out and just not being able to stop thinking/worrying.
If the next day was supposed to be stressfull (a test or something social) sleeping hours would drop to 2, or even zero.
In weekends and during holidays I slept about 9-10 hours to make up for it.
Finally I decided to check into a sleep disorder clinic at age 21 (still undiagnosed for Asperger). They genetically established it was "Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder", the sleep pattern I was experiencing exactly fit that diagnosis to a T.
Then later I got diagnoses for several PD's, an ED and Anxiety Disorder, and started Fluvoxamine (antidepressant) for really, really bad depression.
After a year of deterioration and mounting stress, a suicide attempt happened.
Then I got the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel (150 mg) for dampening the constant anxiety, and a few months later the diagnosis changed to Aspergers and an ED.
Then my psychiatrist heard of this new type of antidepressant, Agomelatine. This works on -amongst other things- the sleep regulating substance Melatine.
It's supposed to stabilize and normalize sleeping cycles. My problem was lying awake, worrying intently for hours before finally falling asleep 100% of the time is hellish and after 24 or so years I'd had enough.
For two weeks it worked great; I could fall asleep in half an hour or so. My main problem since age 12 was having to lie awake for at least 3-4 hours, no matter what time in the day/night or how long I'd been awake.
But then I just started to sleep longer and longer, untill about 12.5 hours where needed each and every night.
After two years of being annoyed at this (lying in bed EVERY day for 13+ to 14 hours really eats up your time!! !) I declared I wanted to stop the Agomelatine.
So I halved the dosis (with approval by new psychiatrist) 9 weeks ago or so, just because I wanted to sleep less each day. The long sleeping hours where an unacceptable side effect for me.
And I quit the drug alltogether 6.5 weeks ago, hoping for less hours in bed.
So far I continue to sleep about 12.25 hours a night, with still the same amout of time in bed as before.
The only thing I've noticed is a bit of a spike in emotional intensity (feeling more, but not overall, just in outbursts).
Things I have noticed about sleeping since I've been monitoring it nightly:
Stressfull situations the next day make it harder to get to sleep, sleep deeply and not lie awake dead tired in the morning.
After a social situation (being in a room with more than 1 other person for longer than a few minutes) I always sleep much longer.
For example: Yesterday my brother had his birthday and I went there for two hours, six people there in total, most of them my family (I live in my own house and usually don't see people, except for therapy or in stores).
Last night I went to bed at 22:55 (say 20 minutes earlier than average, because I knew a LOT of sleep would ensue) and I woke up at 12:42 (tired)... That's 13 hours 47 minutes of pure sleep (oh, I did wake up after a nightmare with sharks. Always have nightmares after social days it seems!).
I always sleep with a sleepmask (putting it on after dawn) and earplugs. Been doing that since 12 years old, helps a FRACTION and is more of a must than a help...
I should be sleeping less (nearly 30 years old), not more. Sigh...
NOTE: My blood gets checked regularily and I am perfectly healthy. No sleap apnea or anything (am at BMI 18, so "underweight" since about seven years ago).