Do we need more sleep than NTers?

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I feel like it takes me far more energy than the average person to do daily tasks. It's not even 12pm on the East Coast and I'm yawning, even after a cup of tea and a decent night's sleep. Is it plausible that people with ASDs need more sleep? My reasoning is that cognitive functioning takes more physical and mental energy in us thanZXzx

But it's a weird situation. My girlfriend's younger brother is on the spectrum (but with more severe behaviors than either of us) and yet can be up for days at a time. My younger brother (also has an ASD) is the same way: he sleeps until noon during the weekend and isn't as active as he could be. Strangely enough, on days he has class (he's a college freshman who lives at home) he is almost never behind in the morning and makes an 8:30 class with no problems.

Thoughts?

My psychologist went to a conference on ASD where the possibility was discussed that people on the spectrum get less REM sleep. So it could be sleep quality, not quantity that is a problem.

Hm this is interesting to me because I've noticed that left to my own devices I sleep for about 10 hours but the recommended for adults is 8.

I heard some guy on YouTube say it's because our brains are processing more sensory information while we're awake.

For me it only started this year. Before that I could cope on less sleep than average. And for me it's a female thing, because it's cyclical. 2 weeks are fairly normal except that one of those weeks I daydream a lot. Then 2 weeks, I just sleep all the time. Good thing I'm an artist without a day job.

I find I suffer with yawning fits, potentially for hours at a time, in the morning. This used to cause me some embarrassment when I was in school. I don't know whether it necessarily means I'm tired though - in spite of the yawning, I don't always feel terribly tired when undergoing these "fits".

I get up at 5 and go to bed at 22:30, meaning I'm in bed for around six and a half hours, though I'm probably only asleep for four or five of those hours, at most.

You may get less sleep because of a bad environment. Many Aspies are sensitive to loud noises, for instance.
I run an air cleaner next to my bed to generate noise that masks noise from passing cars. When it is running I don't even hear horns beeping.

I usually just wear earplugs for this purpose. They are only effective up to about 30dB (a quiet car in the street outside), but they are fairly efficient at at least dulling louder noises. If conditions are particularly bad or I particularly need to concentrate, I'll set my radio to between stations and use the white noise to drown out any remaining sound. We get a lot of artificially loudened motorbiker troglodytes where I live, so when these pond life specimens are out on the street, the white noise usually goes on.

Sleep is essential for Aspies. It allows the brain to be repaired from a stressful day. It can also be difficult for an Aspie to find peaceful sleep because we have sensory issues that drive us.

A year ago I bought my granddaughter a fitbit. It had the ability to monitor sleep cycles. It is interesting to track this information. This year my wife bought me one for Christmas. I have been using it for a week now. It tracks REM sleep, light sleep, deep sleep and awake time. These are my observations:
REM sleep happens early in the sleep cycle.
Deep sleep happens late in the sleep cycle.
The first night I used it, I had approximately 2 hours of sleep at the end of the cycle that was missing. Maybe there is another sleep state that the fitbit cannot record. I was asleep but it didn't show up. Since then I have been tracking when I first wake up and this missing sleep never occurred again so far.
My average REM is 87 minutes (This varies from a low of 40 minutes to a high of 135 minutes)
My average Deep Sleep is 44 minutes (This varies from a low of 28 minutes to a high of 58 minutes)
One passes through all the sleep states over and over again during the night. There is little consistency.
I also noticed that on one night it showed that I was awake for almost an hour in the middle of the night. But I don't believe it. I am not a sleep walker. And it is strange that the fitbit thought I was awake when I was very much asleep.

I feel like I need a lot more sleep than the average person, but I also have chronic insomnia issues that may or may not have any connection to my autism. I can be in bed for 9-10 hours, and I'll probably be lucky if I've actually gotten 8 hours of sleep, and what sleep I do get is often interrupted and poor quality. I can't remember ever having awakened feeling rested in my life, I always feel like I need more sleep when I wake up.

This is interesting, because I've always known I need more sleep than most people, but I'd never attributed that to ASD.
I need at least about 8.5 hours, and left to my own devices can go 9-10 hours.
Unfortunately, I often only get about 7 hours and really struggle to get through the day.

I used a fitbit for a while, too, and found I tend towards longer total time in 'deep sleep' but less 'REM sleep' than the average person. It isn't a notably large difference, though.

I need more sleep than anybody I know, 12+ hours if possible...

Me yes.

I would never be able to do it with 7 hours day after day. I'd always be tired. I have a lot of REM sleep.

I have always needed more sleep than most people claim to need
Iight sleeper
Wake up several times a night

Although it might have been more related to depression, than autism

College was inconvenient, in that way, among numerous other ways, because I went to bed earlier and woke up earlier than almost everyone

I need a lot more sleep than most people I know and frequently take an afternoon nap as well.

It appears that sleep deprivation has a much bigger impact on me than other. People

when young I needed about 12 hours of sleep, I was generally sleep-deprived, grossly. as I've grown to old age, however, I sleep a lot less, but benefit from caffeine pills and vigorous exercise during the day to keep me awake. the quality of my sleep has deteriorated somewhat. I feel like a battery that is closing in on the end of its useful service life.

Aunt blabby

"Useful service life"?

Right now I am 35 and have been "below salvage value" since 21. Or 18 and quickly getting worse