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Max000
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11 Apr 2012, 11:53 pm

crookedfingers wrote:
I've tried looking this up, but all I can find about Asperger's and sleeping is advice about children* who sleep too little.
I tend to find that I sleep a lot for an adult, about 10 hours as standard, but very often up to 12 hours when I have had to spend time socialising with a lot of people or had sensory overload (after work, going out on a sunny day, etc)
Usual in this case I get very vivid dreams, talk, shout and curse about unconnected things in my sleep, and move about a lot. I don't get very good quality sleep when this happens.

Is this normal after sensory overload? Also, is 10 hours normal otherwise for someone on the spectrum?
It's frustrating that all I can find is about people having trouble getting to sleep.

*Also, why is it that advice and information that is of use to all ages always addressed to the parents of children? It very much frustrates me and turns me off the information. Surely it would be better to not be specific about the age of the person in question?

Thank you for reading.


10 or 12 hours is a lot of sleep. Eight hours is about normal. But if thats how much sleep you need to feeling good, then do it.

I think there is sufficient evidence that sleep issues are very common with Asperger's.

It helps me to try and stay on some regular sleep schedule, when I can.



Max000
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12 Apr 2012, 12:08 am

brickmack wrote:
5-6 hours normally. If I sleep much longer than that I end up being exhausted all day, and any less I just collapse before even getting out of my room. Sometimes I get really focused on stuff though and forget to sleep.


I'm they same way. I normally sleep six hours. If I wake up prematurely after say four hours and I'm still too tired, so I go back to sleep. Then I end up sleeping six more hours on top of the four I already sleep. I end up more feeling more exhausted then if I had just stayed awake after I woke up the first time.

Not only that, but it can mess up my sleep schedule for the next week or so. :tired:



Max000
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12 Apr 2012, 12:16 am

Stargazer43 wrote:
Before the light bulb was invented, people got an average of ~10hrs of sleep a night. Ponder that next time you go a full week on 8hrs of sleep and a few cans of red bull!


Um, I don't think so. Even before electricity people still had fire. So they weren't completely in the dark.

They probably did sleep a little bit more though. Since they didn't have so many distraction to keep them awake, TV, computers, etc.



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12 Apr 2012, 4:28 am

A regular sleep schedule would be a good idea, although something that I should have mentioned is that some things can cause me to wake up every 10 minutes (and ask my partner every time what time it is), such as having to be at work in the morning or having something planned. However, a lack of social life and working mostly night times and weekends means that it only happens on weekends when I worry that will sleep in for a 2pm start at work (I normally wake up at about 10am!)

I haven't had a special interest keep me up all night for at least 6 months now, mostly because with moving again I am still getting used to my surroundings and the people in them, I tend to get anxious about my hobbies 'taking over' other peoples space, and for the first time I'm sharing a bedroom with another person, so I have no space of my own right now. The move was supposed to be short term but long term is turning out to be the best option right now. I am starting to slowly get into drawing and painting again, though, in the kitchen. :)
Also, its not all bad, as my partner shares my interest in antique book bindings, so we are developing quite a library between us.



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12 Apr 2012, 4:54 am

Apparently, people who sleep more than 7 hours a night shorten their life span - if you disagree with this then take it up with Stephen Fry..


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crookedfingers
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12 Apr 2012, 5:23 am

Shellfish wrote:
Apparently, people who sleep more than 7 hours a night shorten their life span - if you disagree with this then take it up with Stephen Fry..


Until I see in-depth scientific evidence that is not just circumstantial or correlation based, I'm inclined to disagree.



Shellfish
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12 Apr 2012, 5:48 am

crookedfingers wrote:
Shellfish wrote:
Apparently, people who sleep more than 7 hours a night shorten their life span - if you disagree with this then take it up with Stephen Fry..


Until I see in-depth scientific evidence that is not just circumstantial or correlation based, I'm inclined to disagree.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 092553.htm


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Alexender
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12 Apr 2012, 6:08 am

Shellfish wrote:
crookedfingers wrote:
Shellfish wrote:
Apparently, people who sleep more than 7 hours a night shorten their life span - if you disagree with this then take it up with Stephen Fry..


Until I see in-depth scientific evidence that is not just circumstantial or correlation based, I'm inclined to disagree.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 092553.htm


Yeah sure, even though if I do sleep 7 hours each day after a few days I am exhausted


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AspieOtaku
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12 Apr 2012, 6:17 am

I usually feel the need to sleep around 10-12 hours a night otherwise I will not function at full capacity and require excess caffiene.


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izzeme
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12 Apr 2012, 8:49 am

i'm not sure, but my sleep is pretty irregular.
i find that i can function just fine on a base of 5-6 hours of sleep a night, but any time spend in a social situation adds a large amount to that, trying to participate makes it even worse, to the point where i need 8 hours of sleep to recover my social energy, on top of the 5 hours for physical energy...



howzat
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12 Apr 2012, 2:07 pm

I tend to have quite a deep sleep so i sleep around about 8 to 10 hours overall.



Robdemanc
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12 Apr 2012, 2:24 pm

The amount of sleep I get changes with the seasons. In winter I can sleep longer hours. Spring it is about 8 hours. But summer I usually get away with as little as 4 hours.



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12 Apr 2012, 2:28 pm

Barefoot_Boy wrote:
But I often struggle to get to sleep.


Give Flents Quiet Contour ear plugs a try. See my comments in a recent post at the link below (bottom of page):

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4545126.html



richardbenson
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13 Apr 2012, 6:53 pm

I didnt sleep good last night but lately i've been getting such badass sleep that now convinced its keeping everything in my life together


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14 Apr 2012, 1:34 am

I sleep 10 to 12 hours a night, if I don't, then my ADHD traits worsen.



Kenjitsuka
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14 Jul 2012, 1:07 pm

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).