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Poor sleep for 17 year old

Gemcat17

Hi there, this is my first time of posting.  My daughter takes Melatonin to aid her sleep but it just does not work consistently.    Many nights she will be awake all night, only dropping off to sleep about 8am!  She is also taking Sertraline.

I often remind her that if she has a healthy routine of exercise, fresh air and a good diet, it may will help her get better sleep.    But for many reasons, she generally ignores me.

Am I right in my advice to her?   Does anyone have advice of how to improve sleep?   Should we go back to the GP and request a change of medication?

many thanks.

Parents

  • How about controlling more of what she can do during the night by restricting the internet router to disable access between, say, midnight and 6am.

    This means she won't be able to surf, chat, game online during these hours so may just get bored and go to sleep. You may also have to quaranteen her phone overnight too but that is most likely going to become a big issue. The reason for this is it is easy to hotspot off your phone and get online from any device, or even from the phone itself.

    She may have the beginnings of addictive behaviour if she is using this as an escape from her problems, but as you can see it is causing different problems instead.

    I'm guessing this will cause friction between you but if you explain why you are doing it then it may give her no reasonable objection other than you being the worst parent in the world of course...

    It may be worth teaching her about meditation as a way of relaxing an overactive mind - it doesn't work for everyone but is a fairly easy skill to learn. I certainly found it useful enough that I can normally get to sleep in around 20 seconds.

    Medication is probably the last thing to try - a healthy routine is more likely to yield results if you can persuade her to give it a try.

    As a teenager I expect lots of resistance but chances are she will see why you did this for her in due course.

    Good luck

  • in reply to Iain

    Good idea on restricting the router so she can't use it. Using a phone or computer instead of sleeping keeps the brain active and stops it from entering "sleep" mode.... basically causing insomnia and other unwanted problems. I would avoid the medication route personally, that generally has a negative effect for people with ASD. My assessors said that. 

    I hope things improve for her soon.

    Wishing you the best, S.

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  • in reply to Iain

    Good idea on restricting the router so she can't use it. Using a phone or computer instead of sleeping keeps the brain active and stops it from entering "sleep" mode.... basically causing insomnia and other unwanted problems. I would avoid the medication route personally, that generally has a negative effect for people with ASD. My assessors said that. 

    I hope things improve for her soon.

    Wishing you the best, S.

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