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.
I get very grumpy and useless when I don’t sleep. Tried a few times, things like a birthday party in my teens where we would play poker all night long, and a hackathon where we wanted to make the deadline. I try not to do it anymore, because nothing good comes out of my hands/mouth at some point.
Regarding the issue of being afraid you won’t be back in schedule before school starts: i totally recognize this. I try to make an effort to plan enough time to wind down on Sunday evening (if i have to get up early again). No social media, no news, no action packed movies or tv shows, some herbal tea around 8pm, only a few lights on in the house, meditation a bit earlier in the day to clear the mind, start brushing my teeth on time (around 9-ish) and actually go to bed at or a bit before normal weekday bed time.
I don’t always manage, but I do find i cannot sleep when I totally disregard these steps. I then just lay in bed being afraid i dont sleep wel enough and that makes it even harder to sleep.
Some thoughts that help me reduce stress:
“My body knows what to do and will make sure it sleeps when it really needs to. Worst case we can just try again tomorrow”
“It’s ok to wake up in the middle of the night, that’s just how sleep cycles work. Just go to the toilet for a bit and try to have another go. If it’s thoughts keeping me awake, write them down so they can be handled later on”
Sleeping is important, but your body can handle quite a lot, so try not to worry too much.