Sleep requirements & ASD

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I've heard people with Aspergers (like myself) tend to have odd sleep requirements - I noticed this in my younger days, but in my late 30s, not so much...I work a 9 to 5 job and am very punctual about it, not feeling the urge to sleep in (well, I have a wife and daughter too...) and with average 7 hours sleep a night, I do OK. In my 20s, I usually needed like 9-10 hours of sleep, while my NT counterparts (friends and acquaintances) seemed to get by with much less, and didn't seem to bother them.

I did notice that coffee had a detrimental effect on me - it would actually make me more tired as the day went on, so I removed it from my diet a month ago and things have been better. I found that on those days where I didn't get enough sleep, I tended to make several absent-minded mistakes. I noticed that NTs don't tend to make such errors when fatigued - maybe it is due to the theory, as one poster said in a separate thread, that NT's tend to use less processing when dealing with "overhead" stuff. Maybe that's in the same vein as "common sense"...we have to consciously think more about such things, and perhaps that's where heightened sleep requirements come in.

But I don't really think that going to bed at odd times and sleeping late is a spectrum thing. I could be wrong. I really think such patterns are due more to anxiety and depression, i.e. the secondary symptoms of Aspergers.

Does anyone have any theories or interpretations on the subject?

Maybe it's because we take in more information. We're details people and love memorising factual information which is very wordy, and certainly remember more than the average NT. But we also process every type of sensation at once, well, maybe some of us do. People without sensory sensitivity seem to report the differences in processing less.
I think my sleep issues have to do ADHD because my mind will think of anything if I'm not in a dark room and I don't focus my thoughts to one continuous thought. I usually tell myself stories.
I get about 5 or 6 hours sleep. It depends. I go to bed quite early for people my age (10pm) and get up at 7:30am and my only priority for that is feeding my cat, myself and trying my best to wake up before 10am. The medication takes over from there.
Sometimes I want to sleep in but some days I can jump out of bed and race my cat down the stairs I feel so energetic. But I think my choices to wake up and go to bed are agreeable with my body. I usually go to sleep at 1am and wake up at 4am/6am and sometimes it changes; something known as Delayed Sleep Phase syndrome. I sometimes wonder whether it has something to do with my light sensitivity; I awake at dawn and I'm really active during daylight. I'm too active around dusk. That's why I usually have a tea, because I need to focus my mind and my medication will keep me up for longer. Also, to really feel awake early in the morning I need to turn lights on and either music or I just make a lot of noise.
All I know is the less stimulant I have at night the sooner I fall asleep.

I sleep for 6 to 8 hours a night and I also find that coffee makes me tired. My energy lasts longer if I drink tea. I also find that I can be quite nocturnal in the summer if I don't work the next day. I like to go to bed early in the summer.

I think it can just be a matter of personal preference, plain and simple. Also the need for solitude, which is easier to indulge in at nighttime.

There could be a genetic factor...actually, I think I read an article about that awhile back but I don't remember now. Almost everyone on my mother's side of the family seems to be hardwired to sleep late and stay up late. We all revert to the same sleep cycles when we are not following any work schedules.

I need about 8-10 hours of sleep every night to feel rested, but I don't always get that much. I can function on a lot less but it catches up with me pretty quick.

I should add I do not have an anxiety disorder nor do I have depression. I have had anxiety that has kept me up at night but the types of thoughts that keep me up are too random to have anything to do with anxiety.
Brushing my teeth before bed makes me hyper too.
And also the less sleep I get the more energetic I'll be, but less focused, more forgetful.

Sunrise to noon is my favorite time to sleep.

I need 8 - 10 hours per night, more when things are stressful could be due to depression

Same here.

I don't think my AS affects my sleep in any ways. I suffer from anxiety but I still seem to sleep well at night.

I can't get to sleep if the room's hot, but if I am in a cool room I can sleep better. I also can't sleep if I've eaten too much. But I don't associate that with having AS.

I agree there is a component of having "one's brain on fire", i.e. the constant need to stimulate oneself by taking in new factual information, the suspense is killing me if I don't look up the meaning of such-and-such on wikipedia, will I remember to look tomorrow, or whatever it may be. I actually find the desire to get more street-smarts than book-smarts is more intense, and keeps me up more (through worry of embarrassment, as well as desire to acquire)- even though I've accumulated some street-smarts, it was mostly thru trial and error, and I've noticed that I tend to sleep better than I used to when my common sense was through the floor. Being in constant wonder and worry if I will "conquer" the challenges I've got interferes with my sleep sometimes, and seems to be more prominent after an occasional "faux pas" type episode.

Which kind be kind of counter-productive, since I need a fair amount of sleep to be alert and apply street-smarts in daily life.
But then again, it's an emotional response, not a rational one - I guess we Aspies have those just as much as NTs

I need a lot more sleep than I'm getting. I wish the world would respect my nocturnal desires.

Everyone's different. 10 hours is within the norm for your age range. It will decrease as you get older.

What is this thing called sleep? I rarely get sleep. often lay in my bed doing nothing for about 6 hours and still cant get to sleep.
I think way too much about everything. I don't want to think about things.
I read that the average person falls asleep in 7 minutes. I would like to know how.
I am very tired and still I can't sleep.

i sleep 5 or so hours when i am not taking any meds, and 6 to 9 hours when i am on anti-depressants.