Getting to sleep - does TV help?

You are very welcome! I am, at heart, a utilitarian and so, if i am of use, i am a happy dancer :)

Masking and Acting - this is certainly a "ven diagram" in my brain with a very large overlapping section or, vesica piscis (my apologies, i cannot help it, i have a profound love for geometry hah). I find social occasions exhausting as many of us report however i am often the center of attention as i mimic behaviour, voices and acting styles very well so can be quite fun to be around. A kind of impressionist but with the added flair of directly scripted discourse. Those same scripts can often help me in difficult to manage situations. C3-P0 from Star Wars is a favourite of mine - he has a script for almost every situation. Had i known how important acting would eventually be for me, in terms of masking, i possibly would have chosen it as a career choice and not simply a social survival tactic! I do not wish to play down anyone's (including my own) struggles though, it is essential for both myself and my Daughter that we can take the mask off immediately when we need to, not when others want us to - this is the profound difference i think.

I am very pleased to meet you - i will now begin the gratitude recursion ceremony - i thank-you for your thanks and very much appreciate your appreciation ;)

I often fall asleep while watching TV.  Then, when I get into bed I can't sleep!

What does work for me, is when I'm already in bed and can't sleep.  I go into the lounge and watch TV until I'm sleepy.

Once again, thanks everyone (and good luck to the pregnant lady - hope you at least get some rest, if not some sleep!) . My daughter also has a fan on, and she tends to only have Friends episodes on repeat on the TV, so nothing i'm concerned about her watching, it's just background noise really. Ghostygoo, thanks also for your comments - I think you're completely right in that this community really helps you realise that there are a variety of things to explore & nothing is wrong, it's just working out what 'works' for individuals. Not being autistic myself, I really appreciate all the help I can get in understanding how I can help my daughter so thanks everyone! (Note: she is also showing a massive flair for acting & is never happier than on the stage at school, so I was glad to hear the comment about the masking not always being too tiring!)

As others have commented sleep can be a major issue for autistics.

I'm falling asleep to a fan being left on at the moment but tend to wake about 2ish for the loo (I'm pregnant).  I turn the fan off when I wake but as its creates a lot of noise and light, although I'm only exposed to it for a few minutes, I'm having a lot more trouble falling back asleep than usual.

I think the key thing to remember is that like NT, there are millions of ND and we all have our own preferences so although the TV make work for some it can more issues for others. I sleep better when my room is just for sleeping and tv is limited to the living room. Saying that sleep has always been a huge issue for me and the only way I get a 6 - 8 hour black of sleep is by taking prescribed medication. I also put a few drops of essential oils on my pillow at night as I find the scents relaxing and feel that I get deeper sleep.

Being pregnant is causing issues with my sleep so I've recently invested in a gravity blanket, which is helping. 

In case it has not already been said, i do not think you are being stupid :) sleeping patterns have been a constant source of anxiety for me my whole life up until diagnosis. What is normal for me is i will sleep for about 4-5 hours between about 9/10pm and 2/3am. Once a month, thereabouts, i will sleep for, no...let me rephrase that, i will HIBERNATE for (hahaha) about 16-20hrs. Throughout my life this has been a constant area of criticism from others who like to tell me i should do this or that, or i'm not structured enough or lazy yadda yadda (insert many other horse**** opinions here). Since diagnosis i've been just letting myself sleep as and when my brain and/or body need it and it has been working fine for me and i haven't had what could be described as sleep anxiety for months. The next step leading on from that is me beginning to construct a life style that falls in line with my autistic sleep pattern as opposed to the other way around - trying to have a typical sleep pattern like other people's, failing miserably, and becoming dysfunctional/depressed.

My two Daughters who are not as yet diagnosed have polar opposite sleep patterns it seems - my youngest is opposite to me, likes to have a good 10 hours solid sleep, falls asleep 15-20mins after going to bed and sleeps straight through. My eldest is much more like me, she struggles to achieve 10 hours, has difficulty getting to sleep and doesn't exhibit fatigue or low mood when only having 5/6 hours sleep a night. This is interesting because my youngest who sleep in a more typical manner is more obviously autistic than my eldest who, like me, is an expert at "masks" (i realise the dangers of masking, please do not be concerned - my eldest and i have an artistic flair for acting and so the process of masking does not impact on us as badly as it does for others, we only have to make sure we know we're masking).

So, the TV - i need the TV on to sleep. It allows me to put my brain somewhere other than the bajillion things bouncing around my brain like a pinball machine. I can't afford a TV for the girls' bedroom and it would keep my youngest awake anyway so instead me and my eldest have a pact that if she is worrying about anything or having difficulty "switching off", once her sister is settled she will come back downstairs and we will chat about things, watch a documentary, that sort of thing. In short, what i'm trying to say in my usual long winded overbrain fashion is, try anything at least once! The greatest thing about Autism communities (or so i'm finding) is that we're literally figuring it out together, don't be afraid to try things. If it works, it works.

I also do this but something more - i will often put lectures on on Youtube and although it does not keep me awake i can often recall the whole lecture and have thoughts about it the next day. I will then rewatch the lecture after having thoughts about it and form a deeper comprehension as if the basic premise of what is being discussed is already apparent.

I find that I need a few hours to wind down. Listen to relaxing music for a few hours, listen to the first 20 verses of the Tao Te Ching, then meditate for 30 mins. 

Then bed. I need silence to get to sleep, once I'm asleep a bomb could go off.

Hot chocolate milk works!

For those wanting an aid to get to sleep, I have discovered that drinking hot chocolate milk before bed will instantly make me tired.

NOT artifical with sugar and flavoring (Nesquik), but organic cocao powder -- you can usually find it in the baking section of a supermarket. If you, or they want to sweeten the drink use Stevia.

Thank you so much everyone, some really great advice & has given me some thoughts on possible options. Really appreciate your time

I use a white noise app to sleep.  I’ve only been able to sleep to the sound of a fan since I was young.... otherwise I hear everything!

I used to need the tv on to sleep, or a radio. I turn it down enough so I could not focus on the content, otherwise the cogs would start spinning even faster than they already were.

Back ground noise allowed my brain to stop over thinking everything that had happened that day. If silent I couldn’t but help hearing my heart beat or the slightest rustle of clothing or breathing, if the light was on I would start reading any words on boxes above cupboards, even counting how many letters or maybe patterns on them.

 These days I don’t watch any tv, rarely have any radio on. But I am more exhausted than usual so maybe that helps slow the cogs down?

I sleep better now, I seem to be more able to relax. 

I find relaxing music good but my wife cannot sleep with music. I cannot get comfortable with earphones in and could not get comfortable with a pillow that had a speaker in it, so that one is no good. I also like some light but not bright. When I work away I generally have the hotel TV on classic FM which gives me relaxing music along with some light where the TV has something on it. With no noise I tend to hear all sorts and my mind starts going. I used to get very scared when young in a dark room with no noise.

However, at home, I have to have the TV on, but not music. I do put the sleep timer on, usually for between 1 and 2 hours depending on how tired I am. I do need to make sure it is something calm and relaxing without any loud or sudden noise and I have the volume low so I can just hear it. Snooker is best for me, although certain other programs work well, like how its made, Jeremy Wade fishing stuff, science programs, and I always make sure that nothing is coming up that would unsettle me. Then if I wake in the night and my mind starts going, I put the TV back on again and reset the sleep timer again. Also, at home we have thin curtains so there is always some light from street lighting, so I don't need to worry about the dark.

With regard to letting your daughter watch TV at night I am not sure how would manage what she is watching. If she wakes up to zombie movie in the middle of the night, it could have a serious negative effect...

That’s great, thank you!

I go to sleep with the tv on - I turn the brightness right down and set the volume low enough that I can barely understand what's going on so it doesn't stimulate the brain and I set the off-timer for 1 hour - I'm asleep in a couple of minutes.