Ok, so this is probably the stupidest question ever, but I’m wondering, how long has everyone here been able to go without sleeping?
I very rarely have a sleepless night, and when I do, I usually end up falling asleep by early morning. This week, however, I have really struggled with sleep. Being autistic and also a college student, this is common for me, but this week my sleeping has been especially bad.
It started when I first came home for winter break last month. I have been sleeping in until about 11 am, and not going to sleep until 2-3 am the next day. My schedule is never like this when I’m in school. I had planned to get back on schedule this week so I am ready to go back to school, however, my sister was admitted to a mental hospital on Monday and since coming home yesterday, has been quite depressed again. This keeps me up at night due to previous experiences with her when we were younger, along with me going back to school and starting new classes next week. On top of it, I was stupid enough to take my steroid inhaler before going to bed, which of course means I’m going to be wide awake for a while.
I cannot sleep, I worry that whenever I do fall asleep, that I won’t be awake again until 11-12 the next day, as this is what has been happening the last several nights. I go back to college tomorrow and need to get back into my schedule, for I have an early morning class on Monday, and need to be ready. Melatonin doesn’t work for me, it either keeps me up all night or only helps me to sleep for a few hours. My sleep is usually good when I’m in school but at home it is not always the best. Plus my alarm rarely goes off for some reason, despite setting it the same way every night, although I always end up snoozing it anyway.
For whatever reason, I’m worried about staying up all night and going the next day without sleeping. It sounds awful but it seems like the only way to get me back on track (napping and sleeping in often leads me to be awake for hours past my bedtime). My dad wants to get me back to school as early as possible, for he is super anxious about time lol. I plan to get everything done early and spend the rest of the day relaxing.
Has anyone here gone over 24 hours without sleeping, and is it as bad as everyone makes it seem? The longest I’ve gone without sleeping is 18-20 hours.
Back in my teenage years, we used to do all night LAN parties, and anytime we did one of those I would be awake for ~35 hours before crashing and sleeping for 12-14 hours. I do not recommend this to anyone. It feels awful.
You are thinking about staying up all night and then doing a full day before going to bed at a reasonable time to get your schedule on track. This is the devil talking, do not do this, it does not work.
The best action is to just go to bed at a reasonable time tonight, even if you’re not tired. Lie down, close your eyes and relax. Even if you are awake for longer than normal, you will fall asleep eventually.
You will be tired tomorrow, but I guarantee you will feel way better than if you did not sleep at all. Then when it comes time to sleep again, repeat the process. After about 2 days or so, you’ll be on the correct schedule.
As far as general habits go, avoid caffeine during the afternoon or the evening, and try to avoid screentime an hour or so before bed.
Thank you, and I definitely don’t plan on doing this often lol, I always do my best to stick to a good sleep schedule
This is good advice
Quite a while ago I was listening to a pod about sleep (Ologies: Somnology. Highly recommend Ologies in general!) and they were saying that even if you don’t sleep at all simply lying down and resting is beneficial. It’s not as good as proper sleep but it’s a lot better than staying up.