How many of us have sleeping problems?

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My mother would say to me that I'm 'scared you'll miss something' which is about right.

I don't like being in bed or going to sleep, I can always find something to do or my attention is so focused on something I loose track of time so that even if I'm tired I don't want to go to bed or I don't feel sleepy. If I had it my way I'd maybe have a nights sleep twice a week, stay up the rest of the time, but alas this isn't possible, I can go a while without sleeping but finally it catches up with me and my body gives into sleep. While I am at my best at 3am the rest of the world expects me to sleep and then actually function in the mornings...

There are contributing factors such as OCD as a child, stress causing insomnia in my teens, as an adult I've developed severe restless leg syndrome (RLS), had very noisy neighbours and worked unsociable shifts at work. All contribute to an inability to go to bed, and occasional problems getting to sleep - if it's not RLS it's my brain babbling to itself stopping me from sleeping. The tablets I take for RLS also make you drowsy, I also take melatonin and 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) but they don't always work and certainly don't get me to stop sitting in front of this laptop at *looks at clock* 4.25am and GO TO BED!

I've hear people on the spectrum can be lacking in melatonin - or the ability for the body to pick-up on melatonin, one of the two - that may explain problems sleeping, but how about just not wanting to go to bed to begin with, anyone else experience this?

Last edited by Bloodheart on 28 Jan 2011, 12:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

My sleep schedule has been completely off for years and years. I usually end up staying up until I'm exhausted and going to bed, and that can be anywhere from 1 am until 6 am, and I'll sleep from 4-10 hours.

I go to bed around the same time, take 3 hours to fall asleep, wake up 5 hours later. And repeat.

When I was a child/young teen I had insomnia because my constant panic attacks and OCD-related thoughts wouldn't let me calm down enough to sleep.

Nowadays I'm on medication so it's not that I can't sleep, it's just that I don't want to. I feel at my happiest, most creative and most energetic in the late night and very early morning. I also enjoy having uninterrupted computer time and the general peace/quiet of the nighttime atmosphere. My usual bedtime is between 2 and 4 AM and I wake up between 11 AM and 2 PM.

I hated going to bed and taking naps, even when I was a baby. Then my sleeping got better when I got older and then it get bad again when I wouldn't take my medicine. Then I had sleeping problems all the time from age 23 and beyond. Now I am sleeping better again and it doesn't take me hours to get to sleep. But when daytime comes I have a hard time getting back to sleep so I end up being up for the day.

Yes, I have major sleeping problems, apparently.

That's exactly what I do. Problem? I dunno.

Yes, I'm terrible for this. I simply don't want to go to bed at all, it's either 4am, 6am, or 8am. Too much caffeine will have something to do with this but I really need the stuff - it helps me focus at work and feel positive. I've tried staying up all the way through or simply getting up early but my body clock simply snaps back. And yes it takes me a while to fall asleep too

Same for me, it snaps back very quickly.

This is the number one cause for arguments with my BF, he works shifts, I'll try to reset my body clock for when he's on early shifts so I can go to bed at the same time as him...it ends up setting my bedtime back even later...and then he'll whine at me for it, which only serves to make me more stubborn so less likely to try to sleep earlier. So trying to get up early or stay up all night to get into a normal pattern only makes things worse.

I only get 5-6 hours a night but I am constantly waking up.

i have the opposite problem. i sleep too much. i fall asleep right away and will start dreaming within minutes. i saw the neurologist about this again today. she said she would say i have narcolepsy but it took me a few minutes longer than a narcoleptic to fall asleep on my sleep study so i have hypersomnia of central orgin instead of narcolepsy. without adderall i can barely stay awake anymore.

I also have sleep problems. I've had such problems since I had Depression.

Same here.

Except...since my parents get up around 5 to 6 in the morning. I got to bed 3 or 4 am...because I don't want them to know I stayed up all night.

I don't want to go to sleep, but I know how much energy I have when I get a full 8 hours, so I'm disciplined. Sadly however that's not my main problem - my head will not shut off at night, it takes me up to an hour to fall asleep, and that's when I don't have insomnia.

It's better since I started relaxation exercises - namely counting my breaths until I fall asleep. However it's possible to concentrate TOO much on counting, as I was dismayed to discover.

I've always had sleeping problems. My parents always say I didn't sleep a whole night until I was 2 years old I remember asking the doctor for advice on sleep troubles when I was about nine years old. I've had a sleep study done in the past and they say my sleep quality was bad but didn't fall under a diagnosable condition.

MEEEE!! !! It's almost 2 in the morning and I am exhausted!!