Going to bed, is it hard?

I used to struggle with this, and would often end up falling asleep in the living room before waking in the early hours - feeling discombobulated - and finally dragging myself to bed.

After my autism diagnosis, I made an effort to improve my sleep hygiene, including by starting to follow a healthy sleep routine. This is now firmly established, and includes going to bed at the same time every night (significantly earlier than before), and then reading in bed for a short time before going to sleep. Whilst it felt rather odd to begin with, it's become a very natural process.

You might find these resources helpful - they include advice about improving our sleep hygiene and routine:

Neurodivergent Insights - Autism, ADHD, and Sleep - by Dr Megan Anna Neff

And this book (by the same author), which covers sleep along with many other things:

Self-Care for Autistic People: 100+ Ways to Recharge, De-Stress, and Unmask!  

NAS - Sleep – a guide for autistic adults

Thank you for posting the links Bunny. You are very disciplined.

I’m going to try some of the tips in the Dr Neff resource. I just can’t seem to wind down at night. It feels as if bed time is taking me away from other things I would rather be doing and I can’t seem to be disciplined about sticking to a healthy sleep routine. In bed I toss and turn for ages before falling asleep.

Someone once told me, “stop saying you will try (to get to bed), don’t try, just do it”.

Thank you for posting the links Bunny. You are very disciplined.

I’m going to try some of the tips in the Dr Neff resource. I just can’t seem to wind down at night. It feels as if bed time is taking me away from other things I would rather be doing and I can’t seem to be disciplined about sticking to a healthy sleep routine. In bed I toss and turn for ages before falling asleep.

Someone once told me, “stop saying you will try (to get to bed), don’t try, just do it”.