Sleep Problems for aspies
Its well known that with the old autism diagnosis comes sleep problems in many.
Is the same true with aspies?
I take a while to get asleep but still classed as normal paterns i think. Any aspies with big sleep problems?
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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends upon the unreasonable man."
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Sometimes, late at night, it is difficult to not lay awake thinking about stuff.
P.S. I'm officially ASD-1 because I was diagnosed in the U.S. after 2013. 1994-2013 I would've qualified as an Aspie. Prior to 1994 I was just quirky.
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When diagnosed I bought champagne!
I finally knew why people were strange.
Practice doing nothing,to quieten the mind.
Look at nature,watch and observe,
do nothing else.
No TV,No Radio,No social media,no news etc.
Just switch off for awhile.
It gets easier and pleasurable when in that zone,
and slowing the mind,that it has to be doing something all the time.
Also try mediation and listen to your favorite tunes(music)that uplifts your spirits.
and just enjoy the things you enjoy doing.
The simple pleasures in life,soothes the soul.
Yes. In more ways than one.
And I have 4 personal possible causes on top of that.
If not my head -- it's physically my body. If not that, it's my breathing. If not that, it's gravity.
If not that, probably because I was paying a price the whole time.
Or my willfully negligent habit since age, except then -- I never had real consequences on lack of sleep time. I grew up hating sleep.
Back then, I only need less than 5 hours... Still have all my faculties working.
At some point my sleep quality dwindled during puberty and blame myself for it.
No practices or lifestyle change worked so far. Untreated. Undiagnosed. No access for it.
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dragonsanddemons
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I have a terrible time with insomnia (granted, I’m “more autistic” than most people think of when they think Asperger’s, but that’s my official diagnosis). I can’t recall ever having awakened feeling rested in my life, I always feel like I need more sleep. In high school it got so bad that I’d be lucky to get half an hour of sleep, and I’d stop trying when the birds started singing because at that point, getting a little sleep would just remind my body how much more it needed and I’d be more tired than if I got none. I started taking medication to help me sleep, and still have nights where I get little to no sleep. Every so often I have to change sleep meds because the current one is no longer working, and usually I have to try several before I find one that gets me by (currently on 50mg of doxapin and 10mg of melatonin). It isn’t even because of anxiety or poor “sleep hygiene” or anything, I don’t sleep well no matter what I do or don’t do.
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Yet in my new wildness and freedom I almost welcome the bitterness of alienage. For although nepenthe has calmed me, I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.
-H. P. Lovecraft, "The Outsider"
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I have had odd sleep patterns almost all my life, and they have been a major problem for the last 15 years, since a "perfect storm" of things going wrong as I was woken up unexpectedly. Only this year have I regained the ability to go back to sleep quickly after waking earlier than necessary, sometimes. I think that part of the problem is having a touch of bi-polar, which produces bursts of inspiration followed by recovery periods.
Yes, I do have sleep problems. I now have a weighted blanket and want to ask it "where have you been all my life" . I almost didn't get one after not finding much positive about them on WP. But my family bought me one for my birthday anyhoo.
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ND: 123/200, NT: 93/200, Aspie/NT results, AQ: 34
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And I have 4 personal possible causes on top of that.
If not my head -- it's physically my body. If not that, it's my breathing. If not that, it's gravity.
If not that, probably because I was paying a price the whole time.
An exercise,
This works for me in the early hours after i awaken and when i'm most relaxed.
So do this at a time where your most relaxed.
Relax your body,close your eyes and just look at the blank dark space ahead of you.
Stay there.
Focus next on your breathe,but stay trained on the blank dark space in front of you.
Focus the breathe and feel in your belly.
Stay trained on the blank dark space in front of you.
Then focus on your body as a whole,a vast empty space that is filled with the spirit of you.
Stay trained on the blank dark space in front of you.
Go back and forth,to breathe,belly and in empty body and feel the spirit inside your body.
Always stay trained on the blank dark space in front of you.
I also awake and say a prayer out loud 3 times,
i use 'our father who art in heaven',
you could use the same and or some prayer you relate to etc.
I then do alternate nostril breathing 5 times,
then back to breathing 3 times through the mouth,then out through the nostrils,
once again one alternate nostril breathing both sides,
then once again,one breathe through the mouth and out through the nostrils.
My sequence may not work for you,but find a sequence and pattern,that you like.
This routine is not only an adherence of self love and alignment,but also honoring the universe and in gratitude for each day you awake.
The first exercise is not to be trained on one thing per se,but you are focusing on a blank dark space in front of you.
And though you are focusing on the blank dark space in front of you,
you are alternating to breathe,belly and body at the same time.
Which in turn,doesn't leave you focusing on one thing.: )
We are multitaskers,worth remembering.
Ps.I mention 'belly' in layman terms.
Others call it 2nd and 3rd chakras.
The belly is your second mind,your emotional center,where unreleased,unheard,unfelt emotions reside and get stuck.
Breathe into this space,experience whatever feelings arise.
No judgement nor question what it is,just go with it and experience those feelings.
Your letting go and releasing.
Breathe towards your groin.
Others call it 1st chakra.
You may encounter your beating 2nd inner heart in your belly,2nd chakra.
Feel,notice,experience,but keep breathing downwards towards the groin,1st chakra.
^ I get the reference. I do meditations from time to time, and do had a glimpse of reality beyond the conditioned mind.
And I have 4 personal possible causes on top of that.
If not my head -- it's physically my body. If not that, it's my breathing. If not that, it's gravity.
If not that, probably because I was paying a price the whole time.
An exercise,
This works for me in the early hours after i awaken and when i'm most relaxed.
So do this at a time where your most relaxed.
Relax your body,close your eyes and just look at the blank dark space ahead of you.
Stay there.
Focus next on your breathe,but stay trained on the blank dark space in front of you.
Focus the breathe and feel in your belly.
Stay trained on the blank dark space in front of you.
Then focus on your body as a whole,a vast empty space that is filled with the spirit of you.
Stay trained on the blank dark space in front of you.
Go back and forth,to breathe,belly and in empty body and feel the spirit inside your body.
Always stay trained on the blank dark space in front of you.
I also awake and say a prayer out loud 3 times,
i use 'our father who art in heaven',
you could use the same and or some prayer you relate to etc.
I then do alternate nostril breathing 5 times,
then back to breathing 3 times through the mouth,then out through the nostrils,
once again one alternate nostril breathing both sides,
then once again,one breathe through the mouth and out through the nostrils.
My sequence may not work for you,but find a sequence and pattern,that you like.
This routine is not only an adherence of self love and alignment,but also honoring the universe and in gratitude for each day you awake.
The first exercise is not to be trained on one thing per se,but you are focusing on a blank dark space in front of you.
And though you are focusing on the blank dark space in front of you,
you are alternating to breathe,belly and body at the same time.
Which in turn,doesn't leave you focusing on one thing.: )
We are multitaskers,worth remembering.
In my case... Not very consistent.
Maybe it should in certain ways I couldn't describe.
My mind likes to jump to 'certainty' set of mind over a set of routine/memory, not able to let go of that, making it ineffective and defeat the purpose...
So I had to do mine as if I'm doing it for the first time, all over again.
One of my decent sleep nights was just last night. In state, 'do not try, just exists'...
One involves breathing, maybe tug something from the base to the crown.
Find the spark somewhere by the heart and then spread it in the entire body, to the entire bed, to the entire room, etc.
Woke up finally feeling a bit lighter, with zero stupid symptoms after a very long time.
Sorry, if I just start ranting.
It's just I kept having nasty symptoms usually when I wake up that can lasts the whole day. As if sleep gave me more stress than being awake.
So far, no amount of consumables, routines or excercise could resolve some of said all-day disrupting symptoms.
I may or may not do what I just did again tonight.
Maybe I'll try yours tonight or a night after.
Sometimes involving acid reflux, either hunger or hormones or certain foods.
Sometimes the bladder was being annoying then getting thirsty, likely hormonal.
Sometimes I was too bloated to breathe with my stomach.
Sometimes involving rhinitis either swollen or post nasal drip, in varying reasons I cannot trace or resolve permanently. Times I conquer this, times I couldn't.
Sometimes just plain full body discomfort via touch, just weight and gravity(despite sleeping with the same position for years) or blood pressure.
It's something I can walk it off, but it doesn't get less stressful everyt time it happens.
Sometimes completely out of nowhere headaches and random aches like toothaches or stretched enough to have leg cramps.
Sometimes this comes and goes, sometimes it doesn't.
I don't know where my imbalance lies.
Mine usually happens with my reproductive cycles. Some even flat out told me about lunacy.
Or maybe both.
I likely had a form of sensitivity that one had yet to name. Good and bad happens, yet nothing makes sense.
Trying to track whatever this is for years now.
Though, it may benefit other readers who might wanna try...
But let's try not to get carried away to off topic.
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The symptoms you've listed in your spoiler Edna3362,stem from unresolved,unheard and unfelt emotions from childhood.
Be it from trauma,taunts,dysfunctional family life and upbringing,misaligned care givers,lack of nurturing,etc etc.
Manifesting as ailments and blockages/blocked emotions/blocked chakras/blocked energy system.
The body speaks via ailments of unfinished business that requires attention.
I don't usually have any problems sleeping... as long as it's night. I can not sleep very well if at all under the following circumstances...
*I can hear traffic
*The curtains are closed
*It's not dark where I'm trying to sleep. Like, really dark. Anything brighter than a full moon and I'll wake up.
*There's a mosquito buzzing around
*A wasp decided to nap in my sleeping bag (yes, that really happened... painful experience for both of us)
*There's very high winds outside
*It's hot and muggy
Other than that I'm usually good
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The Colourblind Country Chemist & Tropical Tracker
Myers-Briggs personality: The Commander
Asperger's Quiz: 79/111, both neurodiverse and neurotypical traits present. AQ score: 23 Raads-r score: here
Dear_one
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Age: 76
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,721
Location: Where the Great Plains meet the Northern Pines
One evening I rolled over in bed and learned that even a dead wasp can still sting, at reduced intensity.
Does anyone find that the mattress makes a big difference?
Sometimes, I sleep too soundly to regulate my temperature, and if I've gone to bed a bit chilled, I tuck in to warm up and then go right past into night sweats.
Is the same true with aspies?
I take a while to get asleep but still classed as normal paterns i think. Any aspies with big sleep problems?
well im not an aspie but for the most part cant fall asleep naturally. I can stay up for days without being avle to fall asleep. Recently i got a weighted blanket and i can fall asleep normally with that but the quality of the sleep is horrible. Most of the time im more tired when i wake up then when i fall asleep. But im not an aspie so.
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ever changing evolving and growing
I am pieplup i have level 3 autism and a number of severe mental illnesses. I am rarely active on here anymore.
I run a discord for moderate-severely autistic people if anyone would like to join. You can also contact me on discord @Pieplup or by email at [email protected]
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