Sleeping, anxiety, and ASD

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Hi Wrong Planet,

This has been something that I've been bothered with my entire life, and have just begun to wonder if it has something to do with ASD.

I have a very specific environment that I can sleep in. It has to be completely dark, somewhat cool, and there must be some sort of white noise. (Sounds weird, but it's really hard for me to sleep in complete silence.) Any deviation from that and I'm up until 3 am, staring at the ceiling, trying to sleep. Sleeping anywhere other than my bedroom is really hard for me also; I don't know why, but it makes me anxious.

I've had to say "no" to a lot of sleepovers with classmates purely on account of me not being able to sleep apart from the above. It really triggers my anxiety when I have to sleep in an entirely different house, and I have no idea why.

Do you think this has to do with Asperger's? Is there any way you can reduce sleep-related anxiety, especially when you have to sleep somewhere else, such as a relative's? I'm at the end of my wits and I feel really childish about it.

I don't have Asperger's and I have a similar problem. According to a book I have, it seems to be related to self-regulation problems (inability to relax/soothe oneself so that one can fall asleep, relying on specific objects/external conditions to get to sleep). It's related to a variety of conditions.

I don't know exactly what makes you anxious, but if it's the knowledge that you won't get sleep without the conditions you need, that's a legitimate reason to be anxious. To stop your anxiety, you have to figure out what causes it.

Not sure if this is helpful, I don't have the same problem, but I have found that if I go away for work and stay in a motel, I rarely sleep well the first night. After one night, it's better, as if my mind is automatically on edge about letting me sleep somewhere unfamiliar, until I've done it once before.
That might not be quite the same issue as yours, I don't know.

I'm pretty much the same way when it comes to sleeping. It has to be my own bed and it has to be dark and cool and without any noise and if any one of those variables is altered then sleep does not occur. If I were to sleep in a hotel or something I might never get to sleep and if I do it's for maybe an hour or so. When I went to a friend's place for sleepovers when I was younger I rarely slept at all and when I went for summer camp sleeping was next to impossible as well. I ended up napping throughout the day only thanks to complete exhaustion.

Those of us with Asperger's Syndrome will undoubtedly have very high anxiety overall. And that's indicative of most Aspies and Autistics in general. Sleeping has always been a challenge for me ever since I was very young and now that I'm in my early forties even with sleep medication it is still very difficult. My environment has to be very controlled or else the entire effort collapses.

A good night's sleep for me is a rare thing indeed and may occur only once or twice a month.

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

ADHD, OCD, and PTSD.

Keep calm and stim away.