Published on 12, July, 2020
My sleep pattern is all over the place. It always has been, since I was a child. I feel tired so I go to bed and I either can't fall asleep or I fall asleep but wake up within an hour and then the rest of the night is a write off! When I'm awake after the first hour I try to sleep but I look at the clock and it's only been ten minutes and the rest of the night goes like that.
I used to lay there and try to sleep, I read online about how doing things keeps you awake but not doing things makes no difference so I stay up now and listen to music. I'm as active at night now as I am during the daytime, I feel tired, but not overly tired.
I feel like I should be more tired than I am. The biggest downside is that I feel worse mentally than I used to but other than that I don't get any adverse effects. Except for constant yawning and digestive problems, like chronic belching.
Ok maybe I do get some adverse effects
I don't know what to do about this though. I've always had trouble with my sleep since being a child and it's worse now I'm an adult.
My constant anxiety doesn't exactly help either. I looked it up online and read about fatal insomnia and now I've got that running through my mind. Curse me for going to Dr Google!
I've tried everything with my room and bed, new pillows, new bed, blackout curtains and my sleep hasn't improved so I'm not sure what to do from here.
I'm open to any advice you may have and thank you in advance.
Yes it’s definitely an autism thing.
I’ve always had trouble sleeping and for the last three years I’ve had chronic burnout so I’m exhausted all the time. I raised this with the people who did my autism assessment and they confirmed it’s likely autism related.
Apparently autistic people don’t produce melatonin in the same way as neurotypicals and that as a last resort my GP could prescribe melatonin. But before they would even consider that I had to sort my sleep hygiene out.
So,