Sleep and Sleep disorders for people with AS

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Are there any extreme side effects to sleeping more then 2 hours every couple of days? Personally the only time I can really tired is when I have to be "on" for an extended period of time. Basically when I have to interact with people, other then that I never really get tried enough to fall alseep. Even then I find if I don't instantly fall face first on a bed and go to sleep, I will be begin researching something about a new turbocharger or engine build up and then before you know it, it's 5am haven't slept a wink, not really tired but I have to "get up" for work or school in a few hour. At that point it just seems like a lost cause and I usually stay up till I have to be out and try to plan to eat a breakfast before class/work. The only real side effect I've noticed is if I'm not sleeping I can't really interact too much without getting psychically tired quickly. I've tried putting the laptop away but all then ends up happening is I lay in bed staring at the ceiling thinking of thinks I could be looking up. I do practice meditation almost every night but I don't really consider then to be a healthy substitute to sleep. Anyone experience anything like this and formed a viable coping mechanism to overcome it? I've been doing pretty well learning the ins and outs of social interaction but yawning and dosing off during class and talking to people tends to draw the conversation towards me not sleeping which all I can really do is shrug and state how I'll get enough sleep when I die =P

I suffer from broken sleep sometimes - waking up every hour with panic attacks when I'm going through a bad patch - after a couple of weeks of no proper sleep my memory becomes seriously impaired and I cannot function properly. Serious sleep deprivation is true torture . I lost my memory for a few months.

The only way I found I was able to sleep in the end was by doing lots and lots of walking even when my legs wouldn't work to physically exhaust my body . This helped me sleep for at least four hours which is apparently enough to function ok. If you are physically exhausted your body will shut down in the end. I make sure that there is no light in my room - no stand by buttons/ TV / laptop on and really dark heavy curtains to help my body realise that it's time to shut down too. Even the hallway light under the door needs to be blocked out or turned off.

If you find your brain is still working overtime get a small radio - don't use a laptop though as there's too much light coming out of it - and play calming, quiet music to avert your brain from all those thoughts. Chamomile tea just before bed helps me sleep too.

Good luck !

Doing search on your computer before going to sleep is a good way to stay awake!! ! I take an optionnal class which is given by a neurologist who explain how our brain works when it come to studying. He told me this. When you do computer stuff or reading before going to sleep, it's a good way to let your brain active, which causes sleep problems. What you want before sleeping is to calm your brain down.

I have the same sleeping problem as you do, but I take some "self-medication" for several years, so it's way easier for me to sleep.

Also, I'd say people with Asperger are more likely to be more active at night. So if you can make your own agenda, do it if you can work later and have your morning free. This is what I do because I know I just can't do anything good in morning.

You could also try to rest for 20-30 minutes in the afternoon, so you'd gain some sleeping time.

Doing sport or being physically active is not a good idea and has never worked for me. You might get physically tired, but this is not what's keeping you awake, it's your brain. Instead you'll think about your muscle or your last activity, but I don't think it's a good way to go to sleep. Well not if their's less than 30min - 1hour, between your last activity and your sleep. You need rest before sleep!

What you can do is take some tea, or hot milk, take a shower, or anything that calms you and don't need mental effort, if it's a big problem for you, you might think about medication.

I don't have any sleep disorders.

Why do some people on the spectrum have sleep disorders, though? How does AS have anything to do with going to sleep?

Also, the light. Computer monitors are beaming 'day' signals into your eyes. You want to start giving your brain proper darkness an hour or two before you intend to sleep. Try knocking the computer off an hour or two early and just relaxing or meditating in as dark an environment as you can create. You could also try supplementing with melatonin taken before bed.



I agree with this, physical activity late at night livens me up.

I've had insomnia off-and-on for the past several years. Now that I'm being treated for the anxiety, I sleep well for the most part. When you can't sleep, don't stare at your computer. Read a book instead, and drink a cup of decaf tea or another warm drink.

First thing, meditation isn't a bad way to spend a sleepless night. I've been having a spell of insomnia, and the next best thing to sleeping is relaxing and not worrying about it. Relaxing during the day is a good idea too.

You might find that your circadian cycle has been broken from repeated nights up till 5 on the computer. Knock that on the head and stick with it, you might that eventually your body and brain readjust to a better rhythm.

Also, try the aforementioned melatonin supplement, if you want a herbal remedy, try feverfew.

I have had insomnia off and on for a long time. I recently discovered SleepyTime Tea. Its decaf tea with chamomille and something else. You can pick it up at most any grocery store. If that doesn't work I go to 2 benadryl. I have tried Ambien with unpleasant results (vivid nightmares).

I've also found benadryl helpful. I am sensitive to it so I'll take a half or third of one pill if I don't start to get tired after a half hour in bed. What I've noticed is that just a little bit of sleep aid goes a long way, especially if you're not using it every night. Too much (for me) can lead to a groggy feeling the next day. But the latter is still way preferable to insomnia. I had maybe one or two weeks where I was getting very bad sleep, in recent memory, and my daytime took on a nightmarish character. It was not a good thing. That being said, all through my time in middle school, I would get far less sleep than I needed. I was obese at that time, and I would stay up for half the night on my computer. If I was especially engaged in something, I'd be up until 4. It wasn't until high school that I started disciplining myself to go to bed at 11 to wake up for school the next day. These days, I try to turn the lights out by 11:30, but 12 is the absolute cut off. I've just learned over time that sleep is crucial, and I have to try really hard otherwise I'll stay up way too long (or wake up early, too).

I have AS and have always had Insomnia. I average 3hrs of sleep per night if I don't have any responsibilities/worries (nothing to keep me waking back up to check on something) and don't have anything to help me sleep.

I have 4 kids, a dog and a cat and I need to be able to wake up if I have to wake up... be it an intruder trying to break in, or one of the pets getting sick, or a child needing me for any reason. This stems from when I was married to the abusive alcoholic. I knew all the responsibility fell to me so I always had to be sober and alert. Then I was a single mom. Now I'm married to a guy who - despite being a firefighter who could wake up and be alert at the sound of a bell for many years - is OUT COLD when he is asleep, so I just continue to do what I've always done.

Last week, my husband got neck surgery to fix his spine. He's in a neck brace and has very specific instructions on how he can move. I know that he doesn't have the same awareness of his body when he's asleep as when he's awake so I'm only half asleep when I sleep so I can keep an eye on him and make sure he's not moving dangerously. For example, from 4:30 - 6am this morning, I had to lay against his back with my arms around him to make sure his shoulders stopped moving in a way that wasn't uniform with his neck (a big No No right now). That wasn't exactly comfortable sleepy time for me. I didn't get to sleep until 2am and then I woke up every time he woke up before that (he's been having odd moments where he wakes up, sits up for a moment, then lays back down and sleeps again).

But sometimes the things that keep me half-awake aren't as practical as making sure my husband is safely positioned during this post-surgical healing time. Sometimes I just have this paranoia/fear that someone is going to break into the house, so I have to check on the windows and doors and my kids every hour. If one of my babies is sick, I set them up on the livingroom couch, I lay down on the other one, and I just rest... I don't sleep... so I'm there when they need me.

To fall asleep, I used to just wait until my body physically gave out. I remember nights where I just sat at the computer and played solitaire... just to waste the time until my eye lids started to drift shut. I have discovered that the sound of water is the most awesome key to everything for me. With the sound of water, I can relax, I can back away from a meltdown, I can SLEEP! I have a thing that runs for 90 minutes on my iPod and it's perfect to go to sleep to.

When I'm not convinced there's a reason I have to be alert all night, I can sleep for up to 6 hours if I fall asleep to the water. I love my bed on those nights. When I wake up, I don't even want to get up, I'm so happy with my sleeping experience!

Because autism is first and foremost a difference in neurology, not a list of symptoms. This means there are tons of areas affected that are not in the short form of the diagnostic criteria.

Sometimes I think it's a bad thing that there are short lists of diagnostic criteria in the DSM and ICD. It encourages people to think simplistically and believe those criteria are all there is to a condition. Really they are meant as guidelines to be interpreted in the context of having much more in-depth knowledge of a condition, they're not meant to be interpreted as all there is to a condition by people who know little else about the condition to begin with.

So there are people who will always insist (based on misinterpretation) that if something's not mentioned in the criteria then it won't be there in the condition itself. Mind you, the criteria are also not meant to show the essence of the condition. They're meant to remind someone (who knows far more about the condition than just the criteria) how the condition is best spotted from the outside. The inner essence of the condition is often very different.

So... autism appears to be about the way the brain works as a whole, not just the few specific outgrowths of this that the criteria cover. And sleep issues are affected by this, it's known that autistic people for instance often have circadian rhythm sleep disorders. Many parents are well aware of this because it means the parent then has to be watching the kid all night as well as all day. There is far more to autism than social stuff and this has always been known.

Sleep sleep sleep. Something I like yet something I dislike. Sometimes I can't get to sleep when I'm supposed to, like at night, sometimes I just can't stay awake when I'm supposed to. And even during summer vacations when I could go to bed and get up at whatever time I felt like it, I never really 'set' into a pattern. It would be a bit different each day. The best I can do is if I'm fortunate enough to feel extremely sleepy during the afternoons, evenings or on weekends, just go with it, and sleep. If I'm unfortunate enough to feel extremely sleepy like when I'm at work, try to make the best of it, drink coffee, get up and walk around every three minutes.

I don't sleep great and haven't in various ways for as long as I can remember. At the moment I wake up loads and then can't get back to sleep. Oddly I always wake up around 3:30am and three days in a row I woke up at 3:24