Effects of sleep deprivation on aspies

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Sleep deprivation affects everyone.

Btw, it's also used as a tool for interrogating criminals as they are more likely to crack after being sleep deprived.

I know I need 8 1/2-9 hrs sleep but I rarely get it

I think that is because for people with autism social events can take a lot more energy than for neurotypicals....and in general being well rested is a good state to be in before doing something that takes a lot of energy. I don't think she was implicating sleep deprivation does anything specific to aspies that it doesn't do to other people...I doubt it makes us more autistic in any way. But yeah it can effect brain functioning but it will even do that to a normal brain though I am sure different individuals have varying experiences when it comes to sleep deprivation.

Sleep deprivation is bad for EVERYONE. Trust me.

When I'm tired because I need to go to bed, I'm pretty cranky and have an extremely short fuse. My patience is usually short, but then it's practically non-existent.

When I'm tired because I haven't slept enough, it's a bit like above, but a little less pronounced, and in addition I'll be sluggish and lower on energy than usual (and that's saying something for someone who is hypoactive). I'm less with.
Strangely you can sleep too long too though, and when I do, then I'm extremely sluggish and actually feeling worse than when I'm tired due to lack of sleep.

Everything in moderation, even sleep.

I find my anxiety is actually better when I'm tired. It's like part of my mind is too active with some things & being tired brings the level down towards normal range. A couple of the meds I'm on are supposed to make me tired but don't & I function better on em.

I think in general sleep deprivation can make bad things worse, make you less alert and make you less in control of yourself. So whether you are autistic or non-autistic it's not a good idea to do anything difficult when you haven't had enough sleep.

Having said that, I don't think I'm affected by sleep deprivation unless I haven't slept for days or something.

Yes, I guess I could say it makes me "worse" because even a little sleep deprivation makes me dramatically more irritable and likely to have a meltdown. Even my family don't believe me and think I'm doing it on purpose or something ( ) but the difference between a calm, laid-back lady and a raging b***h can be whether I had 8 hours of sleep or 6. It annoys my husband that I go to bed at 10 on weekdays, but I know by now it's the only way to avoid disaster.

Don't know if it's AS related, but for me I suffer when I am deprived of sleep. Physically, and mentally. My heart rate increases (sometimes tachycadia), BP increases. I also suffer nasty night terrors when I'm deprived. Mentally it's hell.

But, on another note I've just started a polyphasic sleep experiment, which is oddly going well. I say odd because I thought I was going to suffer. Instead it appears to have improved a lot of things! Creativity, productivity, has gone through the roof.

Divided autism community bonds over need to study sleep

I can say with absolute certainty that being Autistic is a major factor in sleep deprivation. Because of the huge amount of anxiety that all types of ASDs experience, sleep will always be a major challenge for us. Classics, Aspies and Savants will always had problems in this area.

I know the pharmaceutical drug Remeron is an excellent way to manage sleeplessness but unfortunately I lost a very good job because of the difficulties I have always had in the workplace relating to NTs so I'm at a job now that has very, very poor health coverage. Thus I can't afford Remeron right now as it's a little over $50 a month and out of my budget range.

And because I haven't been using Remeron, sleeplessness has plagued me seriously for the past 3 months. So my usual routine these days is to sleep 4 hours, wake up, have a panic attack, get angry and stim for an hour or two then manage maybe one more hour of sleep, and then get up and go to work.

Just another personal hell that I have to endure. One of many.

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*** High Functioning Autism - Asperger's Syndrome ***

ADHD, OCD, and PTSD.

Keep calm and stim away.