I’m a firm supporter of the bed on floor agenda (or low base like pallets or more) for myself because with under bed storage, out of sight-out of mind is too strong for me. I’ll put stuff under there and I’ll never ever see it again.
I’ve lost too many sweaters and knickknacks to the storage monster. Going 6-7 months of not seeing an item because the storage monster under the bed ate it, normally means get rid of it because I can go 6-7 months without even thinking of it. (I normally regret that)
I have always had sleep problems. Like Angela, 4-6 hours is a 'normal' sleep for me and I HATE mornings!!!!
My parents told me that when I was a baby, they learned not to try to put me to bed. They would let me play and crawl around on the floor, and when I decided I was sleepy, I would crawl over to the pillow and blanket in the corner and put myself to sleep.
Luckily, my dad is a "night owl," so when he was heading to bed (hours after Mum), he'd carefully pick me up and put me into my cot.
I'm a late identified AuDHDer... Thinking about dad's night-owlness is just ANOTHER clue to the genetics of neurodivergence.
On this note, my dad built a life that fit his natural sleep cycle by becoming a chef when I was about 4. He worked nights and it was PERFECT for him. He started at 4 pm, came home late, and slept late.
I'm in the process of trying to change my life to fit my sleep patterns better.
I too played the ABC categorical game for years to fall asleep and the only way I was able to move away from that and turn my brain off was by taking Lexapro. It was a game changer for me and after taking it I have about a 20 minute window before I need to go to sleep, If I can’t sleep and start playing the game I realize I missed a dose. It doesn’t have this effect on everyone. Many people take it in the day but for me it turns off my brain and I sleep amazing. I only take 5 mg and it is enough to give my brain rest
I have always had issues falling asleep. As a kid I taught myself to do a form of sleep meditation that helped but I still had some issues. These days I use a sleep mask with slim headphones built into it and I just listen to an audio book that I have listened to many times before. That seems to work well and keeps my mind from racing.
Once I'm asleep I generally sleep really well and will sleep through almost anything. But I'm always very slow to wake up and it is really hard to get out of bed. Been that way my whole life. I tend to need at least 9 hours of sleep to feel rested.
But an interesting thing is that my heartrate goes really low and flat when I sleep. Using a heartrate monitor, I can see the moment I go to sleep because my heartrate just drops like off a cliff down to the mid to low 40s. Then it just holds that level with almost no variation until I wake up in the morning when it shifts back to a more active level. A similar thing happens when I get into a flow state, my heartrate goes low and flat just like when I'm sleeping. Sometimes it tricks my heartrate monitor into thinking I fell asleep.
When I go for runs a similar thing happens. My heartrate goes up quickly, then levels off and basically just stays at a steady pace through the entire run with very little variation.
My dreams are also a bit different. I'm always aware that I'm dreaming and it always feels like I'm watching the dream as opposed to being in it. Because of this I often have some control over my dreams and when I dream my heartrate doesn't change regardless of what is happening in the dream. One time when I was feeling really stressed about a job interview, I had a really real feeling dream that felt like I was actually awake. It freaked me out because I knew what was happening couldn't be real so I used a lucid dreaming trick to wake myself up. It left me feeling really disturbed. But other than that time, the rest of my dreams always have me more as an observer as if I'm watching a movie from the perspective of the main character but not actually being the main character. One plus of this is that I never have nightmares because I just change the dream if it goes in a way I don't like.
I have searched online for people with similar sleep heartrate patterns and couldn't find any examples. I have always wondered if other Autistic people have similar sleep / heartrate patterns or not. As far as I know, this has been consistent my whole life.
I’m a firm supporter of the bed on floor agenda (or low base like pallets or more) for myself because with under bed storage, out of sight-out of mind is too strong for me. I’ll put stuff under there and I’ll never ever see it again.
I’ve lost too many sweaters and knickknacks to the storage monster. Going 6-7 months of not seeing an item because the storage monster under the bed ate it, normally means get rid of it because I can go 6-7 months without even thinking of it. (I normally regret that)
I have always had sleep problems. Like Angela, 4-6 hours is a 'normal' sleep for me and I HATE mornings!!!!
My parents told me that when I was a baby, they learned not to try to put me to bed. They would let me play and crawl around on the floor, and when I decided I was sleepy, I would crawl over to the pillow and blanket in the corner and put myself to sleep.
Luckily, my dad is a "night owl," so when he was heading to bed (hours after Mum), he'd carefully pick me up and put me into my cot.
I'm a late identified AuDHDer... Thinking about dad's night-owlness is just ANOTHER clue to the genetics of neurodivergence.
On this note, my dad built a life that fit his natural sleep cycle by becoming a chef when I was about 4. He worked nights and it was PERFECT for him. He started at 4 pm, came home late, and slept late.
I'm in the process of trying to change my life to fit my sleep patterns better.
I too played the ABC categorical game for years to fall asleep and the only way I was able to move away from that and turn my brain off was by taking Lexapro. It was a game changer for me and after taking it I have about a 20 minute window before I need to go to sleep, If I can’t sleep and start playing the game I realize I missed a dose. It doesn’t have this effect on everyone. Many people take it in the day but for me it turns off my brain and I sleep amazing. I only take 5 mg and it is enough to give my brain rest
I have always had issues falling asleep. As a kid I taught myself to do a form of sleep meditation that helped but I still had some issues. These days I use a sleep mask with slim headphones built into it and I just listen to an audio book that I have listened to many times before. That seems to work well and keeps my mind from racing.
Once I'm asleep I generally sleep really well and will sleep through almost anything. But I'm always very slow to wake up and it is really hard to get out of bed. Been that way my whole life. I tend to need at least 9 hours of sleep to feel rested.
But an interesting thing is that my heartrate goes really low and flat when I sleep. Using a heartrate monitor, I can see the moment I go to sleep because my heartrate just drops like off a cliff down to the mid to low 40s. Then it just holds that level with almost no variation until I wake up in the morning when it shifts back to a more active level. A similar thing happens when I get into a flow state, my heartrate goes low and flat just like when I'm sleeping. Sometimes it tricks my heartrate monitor into thinking I fell asleep.
When I go for runs a similar thing happens. My heartrate goes up quickly, then levels off and basically just stays at a steady pace through the entire run with very little variation.
My dreams are also a bit different. I'm always aware that I'm dreaming and it always feels like I'm watching the dream as opposed to being in it. Because of this I often have some control over my dreams and when I dream my heartrate doesn't change regardless of what is happening in the dream. One time when I was feeling really stressed about a job interview, I had a really real feeling dream that felt like I was actually awake. It freaked me out because I knew what was happening couldn't be real so I used a lucid dreaming trick to wake myself up. It left me feeling really disturbed. But other than that time, the rest of my dreams always have me more as an observer as if I'm watching a movie from the perspective of the main character but not actually being the main character. One plus of this is that I never have nightmares because I just change the dream if it goes in a way I don't like.
I have searched online for people with similar sleep heartrate patterns and couldn't find any examples. I have always wondered if other Autistic people have similar sleep / heartrate patterns or not. As far as I know, this has been consistent my whole life.