• Replies 10 replies
  • Subscribers 87 subscribers
  • Views 12426 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Tools For Waking Up?

NAS73163

I have been terribly struggling waking up in the morning without help. I have an alarm that wakes me up at my lightest point of sleep, getting plenty of sleep, have tried setting many multiple alarms, even when I wake up I can fall back to sleep after I eat or shower. It is very debilitating relying on others for this but I feel really stuck. I NEED to get up early for my job (hour and 20 mins drive) so I need time to drive there, get ready, and some time to walk in ect. Like most autistics I struggle prioritizing, deadlines, and sensing what is important. When I am half conscious in the morning this is 10x worse, sometimes I just want to go back into my dream (I have vivid dreams) and don't think about the fact I have stuff to do. I have been told I just need more motivation, to just DO IT, or that I must not care. But I do!! But executing just getting up is just so... HARD?? It feels so simple and my friends do it, I need to too. Any help would be amazing

Parents

  • I wish I had an answer. I have never managed in my entire life to get up easily without feeling like I am being raised from the dead. My overwhelming urge is always more sleep. Within the first hour of waking up I can easily go straight back into sleep, and even resume dreams where I left off. I can do this after a shower or breakfast, or even on public transport on the way to work. It takes me a couple of hours to feel properly awake.

    I didn't realise it was an autistic thing, but I've always thought there must be something wrong with my sleep or my body's ability to produce and clear away sleep and wakefulness hormones.

    I've tried everything - light-based alarm clocks, alarms with puzzles in them, alarms on the other side of the room. I think all of those things are designed for normal people who have a slight displeasure at getting up in the mornings, but they do nothing for me. I can just solve the puzzles easily and go back to bed. Going across the room makes no difference, I can have been awake and walking around for 45 minutes and still have the overwhelming urge to fall back asleep.

    For some reason I seem to need more sleep that other people. When I have no responsibilities and can sleep ad libitum, I tend to sleep for 10-11 hours per day and always get up in the afternoon. But that is incompatible with the world of work and interacting with normal people.

  • in reply to AutToFindOutMore

    I do a lot of exercise, but not in the morning. If I could do exercise first thing in the morning, then I wouldn't have an issue with waking up, so it's not really a solution to difficulty waking up, more of a symptom.

    I'm so exhausted and tired and sleepy for the first few hours after waking that it's very difficult to get out of bed, let alone exercise. If I could exercise first thing in the morning, then that would mean I didn't have the waking issue to begin with. It's like asking if someone in a wheelchair has tried walking - if they could walk then they wouldn't be in the wheelchair.

Reply
  • in reply to AutToFindOutMore

    I do a lot of exercise, but not in the morning. If I could do exercise first thing in the morning, then I wouldn't have an issue with waking up, so it's not really a solution to difficulty waking up, more of a symptom.

    I'm so exhausted and tired and sleepy for the first few hours after waking that it's very difficult to get out of bed, let alone exercise. If I could exercise first thing in the morning, then that would mean I didn't have the waking issue to begin with. It's like asking if someone in a wheelchair has tried walking - if they could walk then they wouldn't be in the wheelchair.

Children
No Data