By Daniel M. Jones aka The Aspie World
Okay so people on the Autism spectrum are notably known to have difficulties with sleeping, this can be from a whole host of things down to too much active brain chatter or simply because they are too overstimulated from life that they find it hard to rest and relax.
Among other things is that people are sensitive to foods like sugars and different types of soda and this can also have an effect of not allowing you to sleep effectively when you’re trying to go to sleep at night and causing all kinds of issues.
Now believe me I have tried everything under the sun to try and help with my sleeping issues because I’m going to bed and waking up feeling like I’ve never slept and it’s just quite frankly becoming annoying.
Not only can something annoying like this damage your health because an average human needs about 6 to 8 hours of sleep at night to function properly and stay in good health.
Just so you know, I’m one of those Autistic people that wakes up in the middle of the night to write down ideas on my notepad because I’m constantly thinking about new things in new ways to help people with my content - FYI I am a full-time concentrating on YouTube Instagram and Facebook.
So I’ve made leaps and bounds in how I can make a permanent change to my nighttime nightly routine habits to help increase my ability to sleep well and increase the quality of my sleep and I’m going to share them right here.
Creating calmness
So before I go to bed I usually spend about an hour and a half to 2 hours not being at my desk or not being with my child so I have some spare time to be with my significant other, we like to watch TV and just chill and drink tea.
Among these, I have implemented some rituals the first thing I do is do a workout for an hour and then take a shower.
After this and then make some tea and we put the lights down to dim all lights and candles and put on something on the television which is a non-stimulating idea like we watch funny shows that the passively comedic and avoid deep intellectual thought-provoking documentaries.
Easy by doing this you’re training your brain to relax, calm down and get ready to change the pattern from erratic chaotic and overthinking to a calm chill and sensual vibe.
Preparation
Some of the main things that always used to create a bit of chaos before going to bed and wouldn’t allow me to rest my mind was wondering and worrying about the day that was ahead of me tomorrow?
This created chaos I couldn’t relax I was worried and anxious and thinking about all the things I have to do the day after that I couldn’t get to sleep then I’d wake up early worrying about the thing that was about to do and then end of no one else do it properly as I was so tired.
So I decided that I would have a ritual before actually getting into bed to prepare everything I needed for the day after I would lay out all my clothes make a list of all the things I needed to do on that day and I would prepare all the food and water that I needed for the day ahead so that everything that I needed to do instantly was taking care of a soon as I got up all I needed to do was get dressed in action the day.
This then created a sense of relief from worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet and I could go to bed happy that I prepared for the day for tomorrow.
Reading / Meditation
Okay hear me out I’m dyslexic and I have a hard time reading and a hard time writing however I do enjoy books.
I have enjoyed many books and it’s one of my favorite things to do is to buy new books however these books and not just hard or soft black books these are audiobooks I listen to on headphones when I’m working out or when I’m running when I’m just chilling.
I made a habit before going to bed to listen to a chapter of a book to help calm my mind and once the chapter is finished I did a small meditation relaxation therapy class using a YouTube video to help calm my mind and my body so that I’m ready to nod off and get ready to sleep properly.
Now the results from all of these are very interesting.
You see I’ve tried all types of sleeping medication that I had to stop because I change my meds so that couldn’t help me with my sleeping.
I tried changing my mattresses but I buy new pillows I even tried buying new bedclothes to see if it was something that was like a weight issue or a heat issue but to no avail, they all seem to burn out and caused the same issues.
However when I am at these three strategies that you see above not only did my time of falling asleep decrease so I was asleep quicker and easier my mind was calmer but my quality of sleep increased and I didn’t wake up as much as you in the night as I felt well-rested when I woke up.
No, I’m not saying that every single person can follow these steps and have a perfect night's sleep but it is worth testing these out trying them out and seeing if there’s a way you can use anything I’ve explained to you to increase your quality of sleep so you can get a good healthy sleeping routine as I’ve done.
Daniel M. Jones - @TheAspieWorld
YouTube.com/TheAspieWorld