Post #992348
2026-04-07 03:13 UTC
Replies (18)
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@lizzard@social.tchncs.de 2026-04-07 03:18
@autistics This happens after "bad" stressful days, but also if the day was just full. For example, I'm currently on holiday at home, quite relaxed in general, but had the relatives over for easter dinner. Of course there was a rush in the morning with last-minute cleaning and preparation, followed by a lot of socializing. I was pretty spent in the evening, and went to sleep easily, but I am wide awake since 4:30 am (it's now past 5). The usual sleep hygiene things are fine or okay: I love my bed, it's dark, cool and quiet, I have a sleep mask: this is usually a place where I sleep well. Just not through the whole night, on too many nights.
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@wizardponderingorb@mastodon.world 2026-04-07 03:24
@lizzard @autistics For me, stimming helps. Because it's impossible to just lay down when my head's processing all that info, but I also need sleep. Relaxing your muscles is one thing, relaxing your nervous system is another. Maybe comfort shows, joy items, etc. Sometimes handheld gaming helps me spend the mental energy. Be careful about dropping the screen on your face when you start to doze off though. :') Hope any of that helps for your situation.
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@mirabilos@toot.mirbsd.org 2026-04-07 03:36
@lizzard @autistics oh, you too?
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@tuban_muzuru@beige.party 2026-04-07 03:42
@lizzard @autistics I suspect it's a form of bipolarity. After an intense load, being suddenly relieved of it creates a sensation where the RPMs of the engine are still up, but you're no longer under load.
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@wizzwizz4@fosstodon.org 2026-04-07 04:12
@lizzard I find that reading a book with a plot that matches my mental energy, but then gets more sleep-compatible, helps. (However, if I misjudge the way the book's plot is going to go, this backfires heavily: I can end up getting more distressed, and staying up for much longer!) The safer option is to read a book that I know is sleep-compatible. So long as it holds my attention for long enough, this works; although sometimes the impedance mismatch is too high, and it does nothing.
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@Glenlivet@chaos.social 2026-04-07 04:31
@lizzard @autistics I am very interested in an answer myself, being in this state for several months now, with only medication as help 🫤
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@jesterchen@social.tchncs.de 2026-04-07 04:38
@lizzard I've come to realize I can start sleeping way easier with some children's radio play on. Then it took me decades to realize this: if I wake up in the middle of the night, I can turn the same audio book on again. If I do this quickly I can do this before my mind is taking over completely and I'm sleeping within 2 minutes again. On normal bad nights I do this once, usually around 4am as well, on bad bad nights this can repeat several times... but every time it works.
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@rozenglass@fedi.dreamscape.link 2026-04-07 04:43
@autistics@fedigroups.social @lizzard@social.tchncs.de I find it helpful to sit down with a journal and pen, and write down everything that comes to mind before going to bed. Sometimes I just jot down things that come to mind, on a slip of paper (try not to use phones near bed at all) without much expansion, as a promise to my mind that I will come back to this later tomorrow, then I visualize myself putting the idea into a book and putting the book into my mind's storage library shelves. Usually, after I do this, I get /another/ idea or worry, and another, and another, but I keep repeating the same mind ritual, and then 30 ideas later, it slows down, and I usually visualize myself sitting in front of that library and just watching the collection of books. As the ideas slow down, I try to have a complete void of emptiness in my mind, accompanied with a breathing technique with one simple rule; exhales for longer periods than inhales. The void keeps getting disrupted again with new ideas, but I go back to put them on the shelves, then void again, as much as I can. It is some kind of meditation probably of some sorts, but yeah. After a while, my mind calms down enough that sudden sleep takes over. If something is really sticky and doesn't allow me to put it away, then I try to override it, by basically "daydreaming". I put myself into a different world, with interesting characters, throw some random events happening, and just explore how the world and the characters evolve in my mind, and how I would interact as someone in that world. If I'm lucky, the grip of imagination overrides the grip of anxiety, and usually, as I delve more into the world, my mind slowly transitions into the "in-between" state where you're starting to sleep but the imaginary world is playing on its own, and then somehow I wake up the next day. As a last resort, which I prefer not to do a lot, I would play some kind of video that takes a little bit of brain power to understand, but not too much. Something like a history documentary, or someone playing a classic video game, or some programming stream, or some such. It captures my mind when I pay attention to it, but then, if the video is low-stakes and "chill" enough, I find myself falling asleep to it. I tried background noise things, like rain and storms and calming music, they help a bit, but not enough usually to override anxiety, because they require zero brain cycles to consume, unlike a game play-through video for example. A few more random things that have smaller effects: Resolve not to eat for 6+ hours before bed; your only relief in the morning. If my brain knows it will not have food until the morning, no matter how hungry I feel, I tend to fall asleep better, just to wake up and eat excitedly. Try sleeping on the floor in a different room, pick your pillow and blanket, and just sleep on the floor, maybe use a carpet or something like that under you if it's too cold / hard, but not a mattress or anything thick. Sleeping on the floor, in a different room, for some reason helps sometimes, no idea how exactly it tricks my brain. Raising my feet slightly over some couch or chair, temporarily, while sleeping on the floor helps sometimes, but maybe that's a special case due to being anemic or something. The right environment and body temperature and a comfy bedding help a lot too. Also, train your mind to know that sleep place is sleep place, i.e. don't do anything in bed that is not sleep. And, again, for the love of all that is holy, no phones in bed at all. Put it in some other room if you can. If you need the last resort solution of playing a video, then prefer to play it on a laptop or tablet on a side table or something, and lower the brightness, and use some red-shift tool to make screen colors warmer. I hope you can find something that helps, and I wish you the serenity of dreams.
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@Diogenes@fuerth.social 2026-04-07 08:51
@lizzard I got a prescription for "Trimipramine", 5 drips in the evening. This helps to stop the mind of thinking around and around, is suitable for long term use. Was a game changer for me: going to bed, reading half a hour, turn around, sleep. Perhaps worth a try, ask your doctor. @autistics
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@GinevraCat@toot.community 2026-04-07 09:55
@lizzard @Tooden Ummmmm, I use drugs. Specifically, 5mg of Alprazolam at bedtime. It usually takes 2 or 3 nights of taking it to reset and get the rest I need. The doctor is not happy about it, but I'm pretty careful and usually only go through about 30-50 doses per year, so they trust me with it.
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@anne_twain@theblower.au 2026-04-07 09:57
@lizzard @autistics Melatonin.
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@superflippy@mastodon.xyz 2026-04-07 10:32
@lizzard I was just dealing with this yesterday. I like this yoga nidra to help me fall asleep. https://youtu.be/0fyqcTC0NtI?si=caiiSaWqRD2bTd1U
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@PetraPhoenix@beige.party 2026-04-07 10:34
@lizzard I get out of bed and do something that I want or need to do. Often after about half an hour I start to feel sleepy again and go back to bed. If I lie in bed worrying about things, I end up awake for longer and have wasted some time I could have been using to accomplish something I needed to.
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@viq@social.hackerspace.pl 2026-04-07 11:27
@lizzard @autistics sometimes an evening/night walk with (or without) a podcast helps
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@Aspiedan@autistics.life 2026-04-07 11:44
@lizzard @autistics i have no answer, but am very very interested in one! I am always tired, and problem focusing and anxiety thinking at night. Then it becomes depressed resignation, followed by not enough sleep, and stress headaches the next day
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@knowprose@mastodon.social 2026-04-07 11:46
@lizzard @autistics 1/ I'm not autistic, just an adjacent neurodivergent. So it was weird reading this and understanding other people do this... and it's disruptive for them. For me it's normal. I guess not 'normal' normal. 👀 This is how I suppose you could say I 'cope'... I leaned into the early morning. No one else was awake, so it was peaceful and quiet... so it was seductive.no one expecting anything. Just me time. It never crossed my mind this was a problem.
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@cybervegan@autistics.life 2026-04-07 13:21
@lizzard @autistics I've had random bouts of insomnia for most of my adult life. They usually only last a few weeks, but are utterly draining. Something I've found useful to a limited extent - worked for about a year, but then I got burnout and it stopped - was "thought jamming" (my name for it). What you have to do is some mildly hard thinking like making up a constant stream of random things, or envisioning walking around a favourite calm space in as much detail as you can. If you find yourself thinking about anything else, you "just" have to adjust courses back to your chosen strategy. I guess it's like counting sheep on steroids. I heard about it on Mastodon, can't remember if it was given a name, and I was skeptical until I tried it, but it did work for a while.
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@fishidwardrobe@social.tchncs.de 2026-04-07 14:05
@lizzard @autistics well, this works for _me_, but i imagine if it will ever work for you, it will take practice: first, do your breath work, centering etc. now, let go of your burden. allow yourself to Know that all of those problems will be there for you in the morning; you're just putting them down for a while. i visualise literally putting down heavy bags of shopping. they're right there by my feet, perfectly safe; i don't have to carry them all the time… but perhaps some other visualisation will resonate with you better.