Is difficulty in getting to sleep Aspie ?

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I know I have problems falling asleep. It always takes me hours. I was amazed when I found out the average NT falls asleep in just seven minutes!

I have always taken hours to get to sleep because my head is buzzing with what went on during the day and what might me tomorrow and all the stupid random memories/thoughts that branch off from that constantly. I can't just shut off and sleep until about 3am. I've had shadows under my eyes for as long as I can remember. Last night was particularly bad because I not only had the usual overactive mind problem but I had additional worries to add in to the mix and I ended up bursting into tears at half past 2 and then texting my boyfriend in desperation for some comfort... He managed to help calm me down and at about 4 I fell asleep. The worse my sleep goes, the more susceptible I am to meltdowns etc. so it's not good. I also have an unfortunate situation of being a waitress in a night-time restaurant which is a sensory nightmare so when I get home at about midnight I'm extremely agitated or else just feeling sick and miserable and either way my mind is working at ferocious speed after all the stimulation! So that's not helping either. Life is pretty s**t sometimes.

Yes, I have trouble getting to sleep as, often I can't simply fall asleep so easily but, I choose not to use any sleep aids since there is a strong chance of becoming dependent upon them possibly..

Yeah, my problem is that I can't get my brain to shut up. And I analyze the day's events over and over in my mind. It takes me a good 2 hours to fall asleep unless I am completely exhausted or drunk.

I am lucky if I get at least 4.50 hours of sleep at night.

Ok, there's that.

As for me, I can sleep only when my body tells me to, when I am really tired. Any other time and I won't be able to sleep at all. I have issues with circadian rhythm. I seem to sleep more during the day than during the night.

I have a very hard time getting sleep. I don't know if it's purely an AS thing but I read a lot about aspies having problems with sleep. My sleep is VERY broken. I guess it wouldn't be a big deal if I didn't operate on the rest of the worlds clock. Right now I don't (I work from home) but eventually I might have to join the real world again. Ideally, I wouldn't have a set time and just a requirement to complete X tasks or whatever. I think it's mostly anxiety driven but I don't know. I have tried sleeping and anti-anxiety pills but they have diminishing effects.

I forgot to mention, I also have trouble with sensitivity to touch which gets in the way of sleep sometimes. If my hair, collar of pyjamas, bedsheets, edge of pillowcase or anything at all is touching me - particularly my neck - I can't sleep. I have to keep pushing my hair away, fidgeting with the bedsheets and rolling about until I manage to make a sort of tent thing or bury my head under the covers in such a way that doesn't smother me but still stops the sheets from touching my neck or face.
I also have to roll around a lot as well before I can sleep, which I think is a sort of stim for me, because I like to feel the sheets on as much of my skin as possible before going to sleep. My boyfriend thinks it's silly and cute to watch me wiggling about beside him so I'll just carry on doing it! Anything that helps sleep is good!

As a child i had occasional insomnia, but that was due to my staying up so late that i became over-tired. For a while when i was working overnights at the convenience store i found myself unable to sleep in the afternoon before my shift (11p-7a) and by 7 the next morning, i had already been up for 26-27 hours. I could easily fall asleep after i got home, but it wouldnt be "quality sleep" if that makes sense. For a few weeks the weekends killed me: Friday night until 7am saturday. eight hours off, then work 3p-11p saturday, then eight hours off and work sunday 7a-3p.

I am so glad im on a normal schedule now, i work 7a-3p five or six days a week, almost every sunday off. I usually fall asleep between 930 and 1030p and wake up for the morning news (long standing spec. int. of mine) which starts at 5am (moving to 430a next week, cant wait!) Tomorrow i have to start at 6am, so move those times back an hour.

I rarely have trouble these days, but i find that melatonin is a Godsend if i have to work an occasional overnight, it puts me out around 4pm, sleep til ten pm, then i stay awake until bedtime the following night.

I have had a continuing problem with sleep since as far as i can remember.... as a very young child i used to be able to crawl under my blanket and find stairs at the bottom of my bed leading to an underground world, which was how i used to sleep... as i got older my logical mind kinda made me think "this isnt a real world" and since that day, falling asleep has been a constant struggle!

mind racing, heart beat, pillow on ears, external noises, smells, lights (and sometimes lack of.. those weird goddam flashing colours behind your eyes when no light is outside....), movement of GF's, movement of me, to much blocking my of breathing and air flow, hair making noise or not sitting right, car lights etc etc etc etc etc etc.... god forbid i become aware of my breathing and/or throat/mouth/nose/hand/eye/etc etc...!

meditation before bed was fantastic... self hypnosis was fantastic.... but when it was new, it was interesting.. since i have no interest anymore, and "CAN" do it, i now CANT do it through lack of concentration as i have no interest in the subject/concept anymore...! CrAzY or what!

the only thing that works for me is knock out drugs but highly addictive... Zimovane(zopiclone) 7.5mg x (more than prescribed dosage!) apparently doctors are prescribing GHB or chloroform to severe sufferers now (UK) but that has to be severe i think.....

my body seems to be on a 30 hour cycle... 20-22 hours awake to 8-10 hours asleep! and that is without drugs or medicines... only getting prescribed 28 sleeping pills per 2-3 months and having to use them in 10-14 days to hopefully get some "normality" to my cycle again and feel "normal" inside... although reducing the dose and taking them with warm fluids on an empty stomach means they sometimes last longer, it is incredibly unhealthy! and considering i am anti-medications, it defeats my moralistic standing from the start! but what choice do i have... live with constant headaches, my body stealing "mini-naps"(they last from 0.0001 seconds to .1 of a second i think....) and quite frankly, taking medications far outways the feeling of detachment i feel when not sleeping correctly...

Having nocturnal awakenings happens almost all the time,especially after I come home at 22:00 after my IT studies ATM.But it has happened ever since childhood and with auditory,other sensory sensations and hyperactivity it can take about 1-2 hours attempting to sleep.Having increasing
hyper-activity,I can end up walking frequently without reason to do so.