Sleep Cycle of Aspies

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The sleep cycle of Asperger's Syndrome (Aspies), may be different then NTs.

I noticed that I have an unusual sleep cycle. Several years ago, I purchased an advanced FitBit watch and combined with my smartphone, I began tracking my nightly sleep cycle.

According to the Internet:

Humans spend about one-third of their lives asleep, yet most individuals know little about sleep. Although its function remains to be fully elucidated, sleep is a universal need of all higher life forms including humans, absence of which has serious physiological consequences.

There are two types of sleep, non-rapid eye-movement (NREM) sleep and rapid eye-movement (REM) sleep. NREM sleep is divided into stages 1, 2, 3, and 4, representing a continuum of relative depth. Each has unique characteristics including variations in brain wave patterns, eye movements, and muscle tone. Sleep cycles and stages were uncovered with the use of electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings that trace the electrical patterns of brain activity.

A sleep episode begins with a short period of NREM stage 1 progressing through stage 2, followed by stages 3 and 4 and finally to REM. However, individuals do not remain in REM sleep the remainder of the night but, rather, cycle between stages of NREM and REM throughout the night.

My FitBit allows me to track the various stages of the sleep cycle: awake time, NREM cycle 1 & 2, NREM cycle 3 & 4, and REM sleep. So each morning I have a visual graph of my entire sleep cycle for the night which provides very exact readings of the entire night.

Stages 3 and 4, Slow-Wave Sleep

Sleep stages 3 and 4 are collectively referred to as slow-wave sleep (SWS), most of which occurs during the first third of the night. Each has distinguishing characteristics. Stage 3 lasts only a few minutes and constitutes about 3 to 8 percent of sleep. The EEG shows increased high-voltage, slow-wave activity.

The last NREM stage is stage 4, which lasts approximately 20 to 40 minutes in the first cycle and makes up about 10 to 15 percent of sleep. The arousal threshold is highest for all NREM stages in stage 4. This stage is characterized by increased amounts of high-voltage, slow-wave activity on the EEG.

REM Sleep

REM sleep is defined by the presence of desynchronized (low-voltage, mixed-frequency) brain wave activity, muscle atonia, and bursts of rapid eye movements. “Sawtooth” wave forms, theta activity (3 to 7 counts per second), and slow alpha activity also characterize REM sleep. During the initial cycle, the REM period may last only 1 to 5 minutes; however, it becomes progressively prolonged as the sleep episode progresses. Dreaming is most often associated with REM sleep. Loss of muscle tone and reflexes likely serves an important function because it prevents an individual from “acting out” their dreams or nightmares while sleeping. Approximately 80 percent of vivid dream recall results after arousal from this stage of sleep. REM sleep may also be important for memory consolidation.

The following graph shows the decline in the various sleep stages as a function of age.

Changes in sleep with age -- Time (in minutes) for sleep latency, amount of time spent awake after initially falling asleep (WASO), rapid eye movement (REM), non-rapid eye movement (NREM), stages 1, 2, and slow-wave sleep (SWS).

The source of this analysis is:
National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information

Since I have begun tracking my sleep cycles starting about 4 years ago, I have seen that my sleep cycle appears different than the norm. I am 75 and male and my cycles do not conform in two ways.

First, my cycles do not always follow the routine cycle of nightly periods of sleep. I might deep dive into REM within seconds of falling asleep. Sometimes when I enter REM sleep, I will sleep in this phase for a long time.

Second, I experience above average periods of deep NREM (phase 3 & 4) and REM sleep. They restore my mind. For example, on Monday I had 2 hours and 11 minutes of deep NREM sleep and this was combined with 3 hours and 19 minutes of REM sleep.

Last edited by jimmy m on 14 Oct 2023, 11:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

I'm impressed by the technology of your watch.

I've never tracked my sleep so I wouldn't know about that.

I do usually get a good 7 hours a night. I have a regular routine with going to bed and getting up.

I know that ADHD effects sleep. So do meds like Ritalin (methylphenidate) and caffeine. Alcohol use can also affect sleep.
Going quickly into REM can happen if you are in sleep deficit.

My Autism diagnosis included the observation that Anxiety is always part of Autism so (my PsyD) doesn’t treat it as a separate diagnosis. Anxiety can also affect sleep.

EEG evidence shows differences in brain activity in Autistic individuals and this agrees with observed structural differences. So sleep differences wouldn’t be surprising to me but I don’t know of any studies. Google Scholar might turn up something - or a medical journal database at your local library.

What model Fitbit do you have?

I have a FitBit Sense. It provides a detailed image of my entire sleep cycle each night.
This feature is also available in their Versa model of FitBit.

This YouTube video provides a image of this feature. But you have to get 4 1/2 minutes into the video in order to get a glimpse of this feature.