Are your circadian rhythms whacky?

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I can relate to a lot of what has been said here -- my sleep pattern is so messed up and I can't correct it. Recently I've been going to bed around 4-5am and getting up about 1pm. Last night (or more accurately this morning) I didn't go to sleep until 8am though I forced myself to get up at 12:30pm. If I want to sleep at a reasonable hour, then I have to take a sleeping tablet. I will be taking one tonight as I have to get up early tomorrow, so want to be sleeping at about 11pm. I would do anything to regulate/normalise my sleep pattern and come off sleeping tablets for good.

Most of the time it is very hard for me to fall asleep. Prior to moving we used to be night people (my gf and i up north) now we go to bed earlier and it's just odd for me to adjust. I would rather go to bed decent time sometimes and wake up to enjoy the mornings. I have also tried Klonopin to help aid sleep to no avail.

Yet most times i can't sleep. My mind sometimes races which is bad, i have to get up and do something and then we try sleeping again. (This happened last night so we played video games) the second sleep attempt worked.

I've noticed that i feel warmer in the evenings, as if my body temp has reached it's peak temp, this can start around 7pm and on.

In mornings my body temp is dropped and i am very very cold then.

I have my gf wake me with her (usually i wake up physically a few hours it takes her to get me out of bed) so that way i won't sleep in and hopefully will fall asleep at night easier. Yet it still seems to be hard to fall asleep.
The nights i can fall asleep without a problem right away, i cherish those

I'm generally good at sleeping, but there is no rhythm to it. If I'm completely free for a couple of days, then I could be sleeping at any time for any number of hours. I could be sleeping for 10 hours, then awake for 4 hours, then sleeping 6 hours and so on. It's a complete mess. I tend to be more sleeping than awake. But when I have work or other commitments regularly, then I tend to sleep about the same time every day or night.

I have no idea if there is any common tendency in people with autism/AS. Maybe it can be a research topic though I tend to think there probably isn't any correlation between autism and the circadian rhythm.

My sleep patterns are so messed up, I don't even know how to describe them.

I spend many nights where my body will like to go to sleep between 3-4 am. Sometimes, it shifts later and later until I am completly nocturnal. I spend a few miserable days like that, then my body "snaps" into a different pattern, usually thru a period of more than 24 hours awake. Recently I was in a pattern of going to sleep in the late afternoon. That's a rare pattern for me, but not as rare as what's considered "normal". That seems to be the one schedule my body won't do. I can't control it, and it sucks. Not only do I miss out on things, but my parents keep giving me grief about it, they I do it on purpose.

I tend to sleep A LOT--like, one or sometimes even two naps a day, and then I've been going to bed around midnight and waking up around noon, which is better than going to sleep at three in the morning and waking at two, let me tell you!

I only had about two hours sleep this morning. I went to sleep about 7 am and was woken up at 9 am to go reset some equipment on a grain elevator.

It does seem like the tendency is to stay awake until being really tired and then sleep over 8 hours.

A few times I have gotten up at at 8am for school then later stayed up to 3am and slept in till 3pm.

I almost wonder if I have ancestors who lived in northern Scandinavia with the Midnight Sun effect and it messed up any genetic basis there is for cirdadian rhythms.

I've tried to get a diagnosis or an evaluation of my sleep problems but haven't made much headway. My previous GP felt that such was not necessary because I don't have a job, but the fact is that my sleep problems are one of the reasons that working is difficult.

Yes. It was at its worst in my late teens and early 20's. Falling asleep four or five am, waking up at three pm. Advancing routine too. Non-24 hour, staying up later each consecutive day, going around and around the clock like that.

The inconsistent sleep schedule has gotten better as I grow older. More structured routine at my job certainly helps that. My shift is always the same start time in the morning, contrary to how it was when I was in university. My psych meds help too. The ones I take in the evening do make me drowsy but I think it's more than just that.

Thinking about this thread as the clock movies by 2am again. This is so typical. If I'm lucky I manage to get to sleep by 3am.

I wonder if there is something about my diet or if I drink to much coffee that contributes to this?

I am nocturnal for the most part, but my sleep pattern/rhythm is erratic. The closest it is gets to become "normal" diurnal is during summer when there is more daylight per 24 hours...but even then, it is random.


Many times I've attempted to get a "proper" sleep pattern going, sometimes skipping a period of sleep and staying up for 24 to 36 hours. I might do well for a few days, then inevitably I fall back into the erratic & primarily nocturnal. I've always enjoyed the tranquility of night, but I equally enjoy the feeling of sun on my skin.