Do you have problems falling asleep?

[Jorg]

I found really hard to fall asleep, I may go to bed and turn off all lights at 11pm but I will fall sleep 2h later or sometimes 2am and nothing. I have read that autistic people have a lot of brain activity, higher than NT's and that may cause sleep problems.

I usually keep rolling in my bed until I finally start to feel a sensation of "leaving my body" and going to sleep, on the other hand I also sleep a lot, these vacation days I woke up at 11am on average.

What things help you fall sleep or improve the quality of your sleep?

 

[Kari Suttle]

Oh hell yes. As a kid my mom had an early bedtime for me and I constantly got in trouble for staying up later after I was put to bed. She claims I stopped taking naps unusually early as a baby as well, and never took good naps to begin with. Nowadays as an adult I just stay up till 1-2am no matter what time I've gotta be up at in the morning. Doesn't matter if I'm on my laptop or in my bed my brain just doesn't shut off that easy.

 

[Suzanne]

Yes, I do. I go up at around 9 and to read my bible and have some time with my tablet, looking at youtube and can feel myself ready to sleep but it arrives several hours later. I get very itchy and fidgity and yes, brain is alive with thoughts.

Hubby comes up to bed, and within like 2 minutes, I know he is asleep, but he is not a deep sleeper and so, can feel me fidget. I feel so embarrassed, because it is not very nice to try and sleep and can't because of someone else.

 

[ksheehan88]

I don't struggle to drop off usually, but staying asleep is a massive issue. I wake a minimum of twice a night (bear in mind I go to sleep around midnight and wake up every day at 7am) and more usually 4 or 5 times.

 

[Southern Discomfort]

Only until two years ago did I have any troubles with sleeping. I went through a period of insomnia during the short time I was on antidepressants and when I came off. It wasn't until I went on another medication did that stop.

I still sometimes have problems sleeping. If something exciting happened that day then I can have problems stopping thinking about it. Also if I've been writing parts of my story for a table top role playing game then I have troubles stopping that line of thought. So I got to make sure I don't start on that stuff late in the evening.

I guess what would help would be to learn some meditation techniques. Learning to empty your mind and push the thoughts that come into your head aside. That's what I try to do.

 

[Nitro]

No,not at all. In fact,I was diagnosed as narcoleptic in two sleep studies.

 

[xudo]

I have trouble getting to sleep, especially if something happened that day that's playing on my mind. Even if this isn't the case, I have a lot of trouble turning my brain off. I usually wake up a few times in the night too, but this has been more of an issue since I was put onto a new antidepressant for anxiety. The restless legs that this sometimes causes is an issue too

 

[Bolletje]

The amount of trouble I have falling asleep really depends on my levels of anxiety and depression at the time. These days I tend to adhere to a pretty consistent sleep schedule and I must say, this really works for me. I usually fall asleep within 20 minutes now.

When I'm not in the best mindset I tend to stay up to distract myself, or go out drinking, also as a distraction, and this royally messes up my sleep cycle. I've had so many nights where I would still be staring at the ceiling at 3am and just decided to go out for drinks because sleep wasn't going to happen.

Now I just send myself to bed, cover myself in cats, play a documentary or a show I've already seen on Netflix and doze off. I need background noise unless I'm really tired. Background noise drowns out my thoughts and somehow keeps me from having crazy dreams. If I sleep in total silence my dreams are overwhelmingly crazy and I wake up exhausted.

 

[LittleLemon]

After my psychiatrist put me on SSRIs that caused severe insomnia, I went off of them, but developed really bad sleep anxiety. I've always had problems with the onset of sleep, but it never caused anxiety. I went to therapy for my sleep problems and we used CBT techniques, but I think what really helped was keeping a very strict sleep/wake schedule. Even if I didn't fall asleep until 4:30, I would still have to force myself to get up at 6. It was hard at first, but eventually it worked. I still have issues now and then, but it's not so bad anymore.

 

[Nitro]

My sleep studies never came to any sound conclusions,but I tend to think my narcolepsy is due to information overload during my waking hours as I process visual information from external sources and inside my head around the clock.

 

[toothless]

i suffer badly from insomnia,ive had it since a baby.
i dont sleep at all at night,i have to get physically and mentally exhausted before i get allowed to sleep it really irritates the crap out of me.
i do have little bits of light napping time at night because my sleep apnea makes me do it but at the same time i end up suffering from a lack of oxygen as i cant sleep with the oxygen machine/CPAP on me,so in the morning im usually zombified from lack of sleep and suffering from massive headaches,major fatigue and even worse short term memory loss thanks to the sleep apnea.

i once had a 4 day EEG years ago as my support staff didnt understand meltdowns and wanted to see if they were part of my epilepsy [obviously they werent] but what they also found out was my sleep wasnt going to the final sleep cycle so i wasnt getting the deepest sleep,nothing was done about it though which annoys me.

i used to be on prescribed melatonin [circadin in the UK] and that was the best time in my life,but when i got sectioned they took me off it and put me on a terrible sedative called zopiclone; its based on benzodiazepines and on me its absolutely useless. after being out of hospital for a while i asked doctors and my useless pyschiatrist if i could get put back on melatonin,their answer was no because the licence for it has changed so that only 18 and under can be prescribed it now.
i felt so upset,because its the only thing in the world that helps me get some quality of life in the day and a good sleep.

so....ive recently done a few things,ive spoken to the sleep clinic i regulary have to go to [its really just a clinic for sleep apnea] i asked them if they would be ok with me taking melatonin [importing some puritans pride from america] they gave a neutral but ok answer,the support staff with me is awful at processing information due to being dyslexic and when we got back she told the managers that the specialist had said he didnt want me to get melatonin,i could have hit her, what a waste of an appointment, so one of the managers has told me to go again and get the specialist to write his opinion down, and the social services learning [intellectual] disability team has given their ok with me self medicating with melatonin if my sleep apnea specialist is ok with it.

 

[Kari Suttle]

i suffer badly from insomnia,ive had it since a baby.
i dont sleep at all at night,i have to get physically and mentally exhausted before i get allowed to sleep it really irritates the crap out of me.
i do have little bits of light napping time at night because my sleep apnea makes me do it but at the same time i end up suffering from a lack of oxygen as i cant sleep with the oxygen machine/CPAP on me,so in the morning im usually zombified from lack of sleep and suffering from massive headaches,major fatigue and even worse short term memory loss thanks to the sleep apnea.

i once had a 4 day EEG years ago as my support staff didnt understand meltdowns and wanted to see if they were part of my epilepsy [obviously they werent] but what they also found out was my sleep wasnt going to the final sleep cycle so i wasnt getting the deepest sleep,nothing was done about it though which annoys me.

i used to be on prescribed melatonin [circadin in the UK] and that was the best time in my life,but when i got sectioned they took me off it and put me on a terrible sedative called zopiclone; its based on benzodiazepines and on me its absolutely useless. after being out of hospital for a while i asked doctors and my useless pyschiatrist if i could get put back on melatonin,their answer was no because the licence for it has changed so that only 18 and under can be prescribed it now.
i felt so upset,because its the only thing in the world that helps me get some quality of life in the day and a good sleep.

so....ive recently done a few things,ive spoken to the sleep clinic i regulary have to go to [its really just a clinic for sleep apnea] i asked them if they would be ok with me taking melatonin [importing some puritans pride from america] they gave a neutral but ok answer,the support staff with me is awful at processing information due to being dyslexic and when we got back she told the managers that the specialist had said he didnt want me to get melatonin,i could have hit her, what a waste of an appointment, so one of the managers has told me to go again and get the specialist to write his opinion down, and the social services learning [intellectual] disability team has given their ok with me self medicating with melatonin if my sleep apnea specialist is ok with it.

You just mean regular melatonin right? I live in the US and we can get that at the grocery store just fine here. You don't mean like some special, souped-up version of it do you? Cause we have like 5mg pill bottles and such of it over here available to just pick up and buy. Why is it on prescription there? Is it because its a hormone, and technically is hormone therapy of some sort? Too bad ordering it from America to take is probably illegal somehow. I would imagine it is.

 

[Jorg]

Humm, interesting, some people have said something my mother and I can relate, she always told me I never took naps while I was a baby/child, and I never took a nap at the morning/afternon.

These days I struggled with sleep, since I started my youtube channel and patreon I find it hard to fall sleep but I guess is because I have so many things on my mind, so many things I want to do with it.

 

[Judge]

Oh yes. If something is bothering me, it becomes quite a challenge to "push it out of my head" along with other thoughts. Getting into bed is never a guarantee that I can shut myself off like that. And when I lose enough sleep, it really comes back to haunt me the next day.

I also have always wondered about one of my ex-grilfriend's children, who was prone to sleep-walking. Strange thing to witness, but she did it a lot and it did seem to catch up with her, making her kind of sluggish at the time.

Luckily sleep-walking is something that has never happened to me. I think!

Though if I'm tired enough in the daytime, I have had at least two experiences that reflected brief astral projection. That was cool...and unnerving at the same time. Nothing like nodding off and seeing yourself from five or ten feet away at the time.

 

[artfull dodger]

I did have issues falling asleep and staying asleep thru the night, till my therapist had me get myself a weighted blanket. I have sensory intergration issues and they need that "weight" to calm them and allow me to fall asleep and stay that way till morning. Since getting the blanket over a year ago, I have slept much more soundly every night. The blanket also breaths well so I can use it in the summer without roasting under it. While it wasn't inexpensive by any means, it was well worth it as without my needed 6-8 hours of sleep, I am much more prone to meltdowns or shutdowns the following day. The blanket also comes in handy when I am home and feel overwhelmed or nearing the point of no return for melt/shutdown. I can wrap myself in it to calm down, either in the dark or while watching TV quietly. Mike

 

[Adora]

I have issues with falling asleep and staying asleep,I cannot switch my thoughts off and find that's when I'm more active and find that's also the time I'm able to focus on my drawing more but if I had something upsetting happen during the day I cannot switch off and I will stew all night about it also I will get nightmares too which sometimes makes me not want to sleep.

 

[WereBear]

Never would nap as a child

One of the worst signs of my Aspie Midlife Meltdown was how my sleep went as low as 2-4 hours.

I fixed it with Sleep Hygiene:

• When sunset comes, I put on amber lenses sunglasses. This makes all the light reaching our eyes into "red light" when lets our brain start its glide path to sleep.
• I took those off when I closed my eyes for sleep, and then I wore a sleep mask. Much easier than trying to block out all the light sources in the room. No light should reach even our closed lids: this disrupts our sleep.
• I took chelated magnesium and niacin (with a B complex and a vitamin C) at bedtime. These all help sleep, and we are generally low on these, especially if stressed.
• I had a consistent bedtime that would give me enough sleep by the time it was getting full light outside.
• I would wind down for bed by turning off TV and just read in a quiet room.
• My atomic weapon is also my BrainWaves app. I set it on Deep Relaxation and that is what I get! The last thing I do before going to sleep.

Helpful links:

Brainwave it
BANZAI LABS - Binaural Brainwave Entrainment Apps for iOS including iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch

If you don't have an Apple product to play it on, there are other forms of binaural programming out there.

I tried several forms of sleep mask before finding a favorite, and it was worth it. Here's the best place I found:

Dream Essentials
http://www.dreamessentials.com

Here's a great overview of how supplements can help stress:
Top 10 Stress Supps
10 Best Supplements for Reducing Stress - Top Products to Consider

And here's one on how niacin, in particular, works wonders:
Advanced Niacin Therapy for Severe Stress & PTSD
Advanced Niacin Therapy for Severe Stress & PTSD - The Naturopathic Medical Research Clinic

I went from 2-4 hours to 8-10 hours. It is awesome.

We can't heal without sleep. End of story.

 

[Yucca]

In my case, I usually work hard, too hard. I really hope to cut down soon. The bad thing is that I am always tired. The good thing is that I normally fall asleep easily. I worry about the moment I manage to REALLY cut down on working. It will be great but will I be able to sleep???

 

[toothless]

You just mean regular melatonin right? I live in the US and we can get that at the grocery store just fine here. You don't mean like some special, souped-up version of it do you? Cause we have like 5mg pill bottles and such of it over here available to just pick up and buy. Why is it on prescription there? Is it because its a hormone, and technically is hormone therapy of some sort? Too bad ordering it from America to take is probably illegal somehow. I would imagine it is.

hi Kari Suttle i mean the same one you do but for some reason they called it by a brand name here instead of its generic name.

it hasnt been licenced to be sold over here,its now only licenced to be prescribed for up to 18 yrs old which really pisses me off because its like theyre saying it only works for up to 18,it changed my quality of life when i had it.
its not illegal to import it as one of my support staff regulary imports it through amazon or ebay i think,i have asked for permission from the CLDT [social services intellectual disability team] they have said they are ok with me 'getting hold' of melatonin as long as my sleep apnea specialist is ok with it as they seem to think melatonin is a sedative and might affect my breathing problem even more, they dont know that by 'getting hold of melatonin' i actually mean importing,so i dont know if they would be ok with it that way,i couldnt care less as long as i get it.

 

[Mr Allen]

I can sleep really easily, as soon as I take my hearing aid out and my head hits the Pillow, I'm dead to the World till the carer wakes me up next morning (which is particularly bad on a Tuesday, work day, I refuse to get up till I absolutely have to before the Bath goes cold).