Difficulty Switching Between Sleep/Waking a Spectrum Thing?

Post Reply New Topic

Who else has difficulty transitioning between being asleep and being awake (not wanting to go to bed, taking forever to fall asleep, and then taking forever to fully wake up and get out of bed)?

Do you think that's an autism/asperger's thing?

Yes definitely. I'd say it normally takes nearly an hour for me to 'switch off my brain', and i usually spend another hour in the morning 'waking up/snoozing'. I've been called lazy many times, and wouldn't be surprised at all if it was a spectrum thing. Our brains are clearly different

I am completely the opposite.

Most of the time, I am asleep almost as soon as my head hits the pillow, and I wake up in the morning "bing, I'm awake!" without an alarm clock. Most people I know, NT or not, are not like this.

The only time I don't fall asleep right away is if I am having severe anxiety, but I haven't had that problem for years now. I still get some anxiety, but now it's more likely to wake me up early than keep me from falling asleep.

Falling asleep is very easy. Becoming fully awake takes me a while.

I have a lot of trouble waking up. Takes me some time to become lucid.

And I have trouble falling asleep too. My mind keeps spinning.

i rarely fully wake up, spending the day on autopilot unless something requires actual attention; as such, waking up is as easy as opening my eyes (getting out of bed is another story)
however, due to my tendency to idle trough the day, i cannot 'switch off', making falling asleep difficult; it takes me an hour at least, assuming no distractions.
any sudden sound (like the floor cracking, as it does under changing temperatures), will strike me awake, in full concentration, resetting the '1-hour timer'.

due to this, my actual sleep time, assuming an 8-hour night, is only about 4 hours; one regular cycle.

I had this problem as a kid because I would still be tired so it was hard to get me out of bed and I was known as the Pokey Little Puppy. I was never a morning person. Today if I have something on my mind, I can get up just like that because I plan it. Lot of people are not like this. I also have a hard time falling asleep, it happens off and on throughout my life.

Sleep/wake difficulties are more common with AS and ASDs.
But plenty of people have them who don't have an ASD.

The brain has separate areas for wake and sleep function.

I have trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep.
I don't sleep through the night and rarely more than 4 hours consecutively.
Sleep is rarely restful for me.

I rarely have trouble waking up, even though I'm not a morning person.

Yes, it applies to myself.

Falling asleep is usually not a problem for me.

Waking up and getting going is a daily struggle. I'm usually the grog-meister for at least an hour after waking. Guess my brain takes a while to boot-up. Must have Microsoft Brain 1.0 or something.

I have problems falling asleep.
Waking up used to be a problem, but not anymore, as I have much motivation to get up and do research.