sleep and circadian rhythms

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I was just reading a post on the blog Autism Crisis, here: http://autismcrisis.blogspot.com/2010/0 ... rison.html Michelle Dawson says she does not have a regular circadian rhythm and can sleep wherever, whenever, and never gets jet lagged. She says this may be common in autism. I've never heard of this before, have you? Anyone here not trapped in the "circadian prison?"

I haven't heard of the 'circadian prison' before. Has it been proven that there may be a link between this and autism?

I've never heard of that, before.

I have the opposite problem, I am in constant jetlag and naps make me more tired. My circadian rhythm is longer than 24 hours and left unchecked it will throw me into a never ending loop, one week I'll be up all day, the next week I'm up all night. When I keep it in order and force myself to wake and sleep at set times, I live in perpetual fatigue and if I fall out of the schedule even for one day it becomes really difficult to get back on track. But it's equally distressing to be left in the insane natural cycle because the days get confused and all blur together, and it's impossible to make any plans unless I have a week's notice to try and sort out my sleep to be awake at a certain time. I've battled sleep for years and I just can't win.

Lately, I feel as if I could just drop anywhere and fall alseep. My mum and I were out shoping and I was so afraid that I was going to pass out in the parking lot. Inside the store, I held onto the handle of the cart with a death grip so I wouldn't fall.

I think I might have circadian high points at around 8:30 am and 8:00 pm. And low points around 12 noon and 12:45 am.

It migrates over time, and corresponding highs (and lows) not always separated by 12 hours.

(the textbook answer in The Promise of Sleep by William C. Dement [of Stanford Sleep Center] and Christopher Vaughan is that high points are at 9am and 9pm and low points at 3am and 3pm. And at night, say after a bar closes, with even a little bit of alcohol as you approach a circadian low and the bottom can drop out)
http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Sleep-Med ... Descending

I'm always tired. I do pretty well from about 12pm-2pm, and then from about 6pm-10pm, but I'm often sleeping other than those times. I have to sleep until noon and then take a few hours' worth of nap in the afternoon just to stay awake at work from 5pm-11pm. And that's not counting all the coffee it takes.

That's exactly what I have gone through, and am going through. I just switched over to night time sleeping and being awake for most of the day starting yesterday. It is about a weekly/biweekly cycle, it varies. It absolutely sucks, it will not help me at all in holding down a job. If I attempt to stay on a schedule for a period of time, it would drive me nuts. My body has its own mechanism, and I must follow it. Otherwise, I'll suffer.

I am exactly the same way, except that I can't force myself to stick to a regular sleep schedule because the exhaustion it brings about is just too great (I also have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). It's also very difficult for me to fall asleep, so I can't just decide when to go to bed. All I can do, if I have to, is wake up with an alarm on some particular occasion, like if I have an appointment,, but it really throws me into extreme fatigue. It's also impossible for me to take naps.

I never thought it could be related to AS.

I don't really have a regular sleep pattern but I know that I take ages to get to sleep and I take ages to wake up and get dressed and shower and have breakfast, and that if I don't take lots of time to do those things then I will be late for college/work/whatever and I'll feel groggy all day. I'm not sure though whether this is more related to circadian rhythm or to transitioning problems.

I don't have a regular sleep pattern either and, after noticing I was up at different times during the day and night, a friend described me as having "permanent jetlag" lol I thought it was pretty funny

Shadi

I sleep when I am tired. I dont really have a pattern to talk of.

Yeah I have always had this problem. I can sleep around 14 hours a day in winter and only about 4 hours a day in summer. Apparently its all down to light from the blue end of the spectrum. The blue light gets into our eyes even when our eyes are closed.

My Circadian rhythm always gets out of synch. It is a battle for me to keep it in routine.

I have also heard that problems with this can affect people with bipolar.

I have delayed sleep phase syndrome. I sleep from 2-6am, if I'm lucky.

As far as I know the average circadian cycle in humans is NOT 24h, but 25h, which means that most people exhibit a similar pattern to what you describe, SamwiseGamgee, when they are left without outward clues (sun rising, workday hours...) as to what time it is.

As several others here have mentioned similar patterns (and I am one of the awake-time-shifting crowd as well, though I have it pretty much under control at the moment), I wonder whether it might not simply be that NTs are better able to controll/adapt their sleeping pattern to make it fit in with modern society than Aspies are (mind the generalisation in that statement ).

Maybe Aspies just tend to listen more closely to what their body tells them and thus are aware of certain things most NTs simply don't notice?

That is a good point. I have heard it affects most people. I hear that some people have shorter cycles of 23hours. I do tend to listen to my body more and obey its demands. I think NT's do have this ability to ignore things and soldier on.