Autistic traits depending on time of the day?

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I wonder if anyone else expiriences anything similar.
I have no problem waking up and for most of the day I do all the "normal" stuff, just prefer quieter and less stimulating environments.
Then every day, about 7 p.m. it strikes: people talking around me cause severe pain, socialization is impossible, I struggle to talk, noise and light become unbearable... until about 8:30 p.m. if I hide somewhere not to be bothered or until I fall asleep if I can't hide.

I wonder if it's just me or did someone else notice something similar?

Hi magz, when do your girls go to bed? About 8:30? just an idea but could it be family related?

I have a hard time between dinner and the children's bedtime. I find it is a challenging time because it is hard to start anything new as it is nearly bedtime but also there is a lot of restless, or overtired, energy going about. I feel like I want to tidy up and get ready for everyone settling down but often they are still going strong. I feel like everything in my system is saying "need down time" and I severely need to be alone and undisturbed for a bit but everyone else gets increasingly needy and dependent on me.

Something as little as having had a longer one on one conversation with someone during the day can exacerbate this and make this time really hard for me. Each request or noise feels like it is grating on me. I try to conserve my energy for this time and do less during the day.

I have also mitigated this a bit by changing my body clock around.

I now get up at 4:30-5:00 so have my "alone" time without the kids in the morning instead. Somehow it works better.

It is very busy for me in a family of 4. It was just me alone for so long before this.

Yes, I quite often have noticed a similar pattern. Personally, I think it has a lot to do with masking behaviour that has become habitual causing a mild kind of burn-out. Being at home in the evening, in my sanctuary, seems to be when the stress that has been building all day from masking catches up with me. I'm so conditioned to do it when out in the world that I blast through the stress by just swallowing it, as there's often little that can be done about it right there and then. I don't think that my autistic traits are any stronger in the evening, but the conscious part of my brain that's been controlling my masking just insists on having a rest, so revealing the underlying autistic behaviours more.

Personally, so long as it isn't causing too many problems, I think it's best to embrace this as an instinctive protection mechanism which allows some of the stress of the day to subside, so that it doesn't build up into a more persistent and disabling burn-out. I struggle with my autistic traits far more severely when I'm in a situation where I can't allow myself these "winding down" periods - for example, if staying away from home or when several evenings are taken up with social activities.

My kids go to bed later... but at 8:30 they are usually in a bathtub, not requiring much supervision unless washing their hair.
I kind of embraced it in a way... saying to my hubby 'stop talking to me, it's 7pm' and he knows what it means.
I was just wondering if the pattern occurs in others.

I've noticed a palpable feeling of winding down around 7pm. It became apparent to me in college. With the constant academics the deficits in mental function became more stark: Meltdowns if i push pass that point, feeling like i'm shutting down and everything becomes annoying if i'm not alone in my place. I thought it was just tiredness and my own weirdness before i was diagnosed.

The later in the day the tireder I get so the worse I do.