I have trouble sleeping

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When I was in fourth grade I got a TV put into my room. I would watch it before going to bed. I soon thereafter had problems going to bed and would routinely stay up all night.

I would typically wake up unrested and go to school too tired to function. My grades started fall off and my performance in sports was sub optimal as well.

I am now 27. Until around 25 I lived on a 26 hour day, sleeping for 10 while being awake for 16. This meant that my sleeping schedule was constantly moving around the clock. I was self employed and so this was not a big deal and I was able to live normally to the extent that one can with such a sleep cycle.

Once I turned 25 I discovered that screens emit blue light which inhibit your ability to produce the chemicals which trigger sleep, thus pushing your sleep back every night. I promptly stopped looking at screens before going to bed and haven't had trouble maintaining a regular sleep cycle ever since. I wake up at 10am and go to bed at midnight basically every day.

My trouble is that, especially as I get older, getting good, consistent, deep, refreshing sleep, is often very difficult. I find that slight ripples can often impact my sleep for several days. For instance, if I didn't sleep well because maybe my room was too hot, the next day I would feel lethargic. The next night even with proper sleep I may wakeup and still not feel completely refreshed.

I notice that I have trouble waking up having to go to the bathroom at least once, sometimes two or three times at night. I believe this inhibits my sleep as well, making it hard for me to get into deep sleep and stay there. I have also noticed that as I get older it gets harder.

Even with proper sun light, diet, exercise, a cool sleeping environment, in a dark room, with a comfortable bed, I still am not guaranteed to sleep well.

I have been said to operate at 200% with proper sleep, but 20% without.


Does this resonate with anyone?

I should mention that I sleep on a tempurpedic mattress. If I don't sleep on one I am certain to not get deep sleep.

Thanks!! !

Have you looked into getting a weighted blanket? I find that without it I wake up constantly at night, but with the blanket I am only up if I need to use the restroom, otherwise I am out for the night. Also helps calm me down if I am feeling stress/overwhelmed/overstimulated. I can wrap myself up in it and either take a nap or watch tv and right away I feel myself calming down. It has really helped both my sleeping and avoiding meltdowns and shutdowns. Dodger

Cool I will look into that.

Unrelated: Where did you take the aspie test?

Wish I had some advice to offer you but I haven't gotten a full nights sleep in 30 years. It seems the older one gets the more difficult it becomes to get good sleep.

Just google search "aspie quiz" and it will come up. Answer with your first thought, do not overthink the questions. I took it post diagnosis just for my own enjoyment. I got my blanket from Mosaic Blankets online, was $200 for a 15lb blanket. They recommend 5-10% of your body weight +2lbs. At full weight it would have been 22lbs, I felt that was a bit much, so I went with 15lbs and love it, worth every penny spent. Dodger

Whilst admittedly it's too early to form an opinion of any great substance, I have found that Mirtazapine has vastly improved my sleep over the past few nights. I believe it's ordinarily prescribed to those who are either depressed, highly anxious, exhibit severe sleeping difficulties or demonstrate OCD traits.

I find that getting to sleep is my problem. I actually rely on TV to fix this.

If I go to bed without the TV on then quite often I'll start thinking about all kinds of stuff which keeps me awake. Things like: what I did today; what I must do tomorrow; what went well; what went badly; what I'm dreading.

With the TV on (I'm often turned away from it with my eyes closed) I focus on listening to something other than my own thoughts. I usually drift off in no time.

To the person who invented the sleep timer: THANK YOU!

Alas, as I get older the seemingly inevitable need to go pee seems to be waking me up in the early hours.