Sleep

I find my sleep is affected by what has happened during the day. I get my best night's sleep when I have exercised vigorously for around 1 hour, including warm-up and drop-down, followed by a warm shower/bath. This needs to be early evening at the latest, and outdoors for preference. For me yoga is also good and meditation helpful as are relaxation techniques.

Dear NAS87001,

Thank you for sharing this with our community. Our page about sleep might be of your interest, https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/physical-health/sleep.

You may also interested in looking at this interview about autistic children and sleep, https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/sleep-difficulties

Thank you. I hope this helps!

Best wishes,

Eunice Mod

I do something similar I use "3 hours of oldies playing in another room with rain sounds" playing on a loop, the music is already soft, so when the vocals get muffled I don't have the pressure to pay attention but the "shape" of the sounds hide my tinnitus and the sounds of the pipes in the walls which are more noticeable and annoying at night.

I should note, I always go to bed half an hour before I want to fall asleep and I’m very strict on getting 8 hours!

This may sound ridiculous but ever since I was 10 or so (I’m 21 now) I haven’t been able to fall asleep without TV on my iPad in the background. Sometimes I pay attention and eventually loose interest and doze off, most of the time it’s just having that background noise! I choose something light hearted, nothing scary or dramatic. It’s important that it’s something that I’ve seen before so I don’t find myself trying to stay awake to see how the plot turns out! When I was younger it was Cebeebies bedtime stories on repeat all night, then it was Miranda and now it’s Bobs Burgers :) 

I struggle to sleep quite often and my son with ASD also finds it difficult. I find personally the biggest problem is getting my brain to switch off.

Over the years we tried various things with my son either to make him more comfortable or to help him switch off. Here are some things to think about.

What can you do to make the room more comfortable?

Does it need to be darker to get to sleep?

Would low light coloured lights help her relax?

Is the bed comfortable? For example cotton duvets are cooler and larger duvets can be wrapped around you.

Does she need background noise to help her switch off, like a story CD or gentle music or a monotonous sound like an electric fan?

What does she do before bed?  Does she have a bath, maybe with bubbles and a period of unwinding maybe with a story? My son always likes a snack at this time. Water lights like lava lamps or the ones with fish are relaxing in the winter.

I've heard weighted blankets can sometimes help but check with experts.