on this video we are going to explore the topic of sleep and autism and discuss why many autistic people struggle with sleep so let's go [Music] oh hey I'm Orion Kelly that autistic guy I'm all about helping you raise your level of understanding acceptance and appreciation of the autistic community so if that sounds like something you'd be interested in joining you should join this amazing Community you should do it our YouTube Channel please come and say hey and I have a purpose-built dedicated
video podcast Channel nothing but video podcasts check out Orion Kelly podcasts on YouTube let's talk about sleep and autism and why so many autistic people seem to struggle with sleep research suggests that up to 80 percent of autistic people experience some form of sleep disturbance and there are many types of sleep problems faced by autistic people you can imagine the impact that has on their overall well-being and health but what are some specific sleep issues faced by autistic people let's
go through some examples of sleeping issues that autistic people may face one common issue is a difficulty falling asleep oh man for most of my life this was easily one of my biggest sleep challenges I could stay awake in bed for hours and it would spiral and I would never ever ever get to sleep for hours and hours and hours and it would drive me nuts and I'd get anger and angry and it's a vicious cycle now that might be an issue for many people many non-autistic people but we're talking about
it through the lens of autism so autistic people can really struggle to calm their minds to clear their minds to from my point of view to stop their minds it's like sometimes you just got to say enough stop no more using your mind no more thinking that's it's actually really hard to calm your mind to stop your mind from ticking over when you're trying to go to sleep and frankly it's a challenge as an autistic person I often fail at calming my mind stopping my mind what does that lead to insomnia
falling asleep for autistic people can also be further Complicated by a change in sleeping schedules also a change in time you know like when you go through the daylight saving time those switchovers of time twice a year you might go on a holiday to a different date line there'd be a jet lag there so there's many different issues that can really affect an autistic person's ability to fall asleep before we get into the next one is one super quick thing if I ever go overseas and it's not often be
cause I've got an autistic kid if I ever go overseas I don't care how many hours I've been on the plane or you know how tight I am the first thing I do is get outside if it's daylight get outside and really get some of that sunlight that daylight into my eyes I find that if you can get and I don't mean look at the Sun but I mean get outside if you can get some sunlight some daylight into your eyes be out there in the opening in nature walk down the street whatever regardless of how tired you are
there's something about that Sun hitting your eyes it kind of resets your clock and it tends to help small weird potentially completely useless tip another common sleeping issue for autistic people is waking up on and off or waking up in the middle of the night and then having trouble really struggling to get back to sleep this happens a lot with autistic kids I know it does with our kids they can wake up in the middle of the night and it's like it's party time it's go time hey things to do for
people to see it's two in the morning dude go to sleep I can't go to sleep you know this kind of waking up and not being able to go back to sleep can be caused by many different things usually for autistic kids autistic people it's the obvious stuff it's stress it's anxiety it could be sensory related some sort of physical discomfort there's always something there and this comes down to inealability to color your mind again and the ability to be able to not think about the things coming up tomo
rrow like for autistic kid things at school might wake our son up really early and keep him awake so these are just another layer of challenges as it is touched on sensory issues can really affect the sleep of an autistic person seems pretty obvious right I mean if you're hypersensitive if you're more sensitive than others to noises and to light smells feelings different textures then obviously that's going to contribute to you waking up or having trouble getting to sleep or feeling comfortable
enough to go to sleep another really interesting sleep issue faced by autistic people is a thing called delayed sleep phase syndrome so this is a thing where a person's circadian rhythm is delayed basically if their circadian rhythm is out of whack or delayed it manifests in them falling asleep later even getting up later so their whole sleeping pattern is shifted is delayed obviously that's the whole point of the syndrome because of the Circadian rhythm delay it it moves it in fact research has
suggested that many autistic people have a delayed circadian rhythm which can cause us to have a regular sleep patterns another sleep disturbance issue faced by autistic people are night terrors night terrors I don't know if you had them but night terrors they are intense absolutely frightening episodes that obviously happen during a deep sleep it's been suggested that autistic people may actually be more prone to night terrors which can actually cause us to wake up screaming and feeling comple
tely disorientated I've actually done this a few times and you know what's really funny it's usually on holidays so it'll be like our first night on holiday and my wa I won't remember it my wife will say halfway through the night I woke up like blood curdlingly screaming and she'll say sometimes it's like you were yelling out help or you're banging for help or you're screaming and and then you just go back to sleep and it's like what just happened other times on holidays I'll literally wake up o
r if I'm someone else's house I'll literally wake up in the middle of the night and I will have no idea where I am what time of day or night it is why I'm here like it you wake up in a black hole and you don't realize oh okay I'm sleeping here tonight or whatever so and you know maybe it's because being on holidays or being out of your comfort zone your safe zone for an autistic person is stressful and that's stress you know probably triggers these types of Night Terrors now horrible to go throu
gh but but not uncommon for autistic people this next sleeping issue for autistic people is really really annoying I experience it my artistic son experiences it it's horrible it's restless leg syndrome in basic terms restless leg syndrome is a condition where you just feel this bizarre sensation almost this agitation through your body and when I say body usually I mean legs clearly restless legs and that that is absolutely right but it can manifest in other places for me I've I've experienced t
his badly and it really it's hard to explain but this restless leg feeling and it really is like there's just ants crawling on the inside of your legs and no matter what you do you will not be able to relax you will not be comfortable you will not go to sleep I used to get this all the time my son gets it from time to time I find the best way to try and navigate this is number one you've got to be hydrated you've got to stay hydrated you've got to drink and I don't mean um juice and I mean you g
otta you're drinking lots of water there's lots of there's mineral good stuff in water right the kind of stuff your body needs if you or your child or physic child hasn't drunk enough water on a particular day I almost guarantee there'll be some form of sleeping issues or restless leg now you could also go one step further some people may look at other types of vitamins and supplements and minerals and stuff right to help them with with this kind of restless leg syndrome you know things like mag
nesium that kind of stuff but that's your own personal choice and decision I can't advise you on that but yeah the Restless Leg Syndrome thing it's uh it can be crippling for an autistic person another example of sleep disturbances for autistic people are parasomnias again in basic terms parasomnias are behaviors that happen during sleep obvious examples sleepwalking sleep talking I'm more of a sleep talker than a sleepwalker and like restless leg syndrome and some other things we've talked abou
t night terrors this type of disturbance seems to be again quite common amongst autistic people here's an interesting example of sleep disturbances faced by autistic people for you bruxism bruxism basically is a condition where a person grinds their teeth while they're sleeping you may already go wow man you say this is meal this is my partner or my child yeah well actually it's quite common amongst autistic people again because of heightened levels of anxiety and stress and sensory processing i
ssues these types of things the last example I want to give you before I get onto some really fascinating incredible brand new Research into autism and sleep that you really want to hear about trust me is co-sleeping okay so this final example of sleeping difficulties for autistic people is around co-sleeping this is really interesting a lot of autistic adults that I talk to really resonate with my comments around you know dating and sexuality and those types of things about sharing your bed wit
h others this kind of inability to fall asleep or feel comfortable in the same bed as a partner a person you're dating right someone else I find this I'm getting a feedback from comments a lot of people have this difficulty co-sleeping with others so there's no question that some autistic people have real difficulties in co-sleeping sleeping in the same bed as a family member a partner whatever and this could be down to many things it could be the proximity to another person The Sounds smells th
e touch to feel these the sea kind of sensory sensations of having someone else that close to you while you're sleeping the movements of another person in bed I've also found though conversely and this might be more apparent for autistic kids which is really ironic that autistic kids they can actually have difficulty going to sleep or sleeping without someone in the bed with them as in you may have an autistic child and as their parent you may be seemingly forced to lay not not read them book at
the side of their bed and then leave you may be like feel like it's required for them to go to sleep or to even go to bed you've got to physically get in bed with them as in they want you under the sheets under the blankets laying down on a pillow physically reading a book in bed and then physically going to sleep with them and then you have this issue of having to sneak out once they go to sleep this is very common for autistic parents that have autistic kids or Just parents or autistic kids w
e have to do this so co-sleeping difficulties goes both ways and again it's a really big disturbance for autistic people I've got some new research I really want to share with you but I don't want to screw it up so I'm gonna read it off this bit of paper okay this is my opinion really amazing and fascinating new Research into sleep in autism all right so it's research done from Mata research and the University of Queensland now they've found that fat molecules called lipids is that is that what
they are they actually may play a role in sleep disturbances in autistic people now they specifically Focus their research on autistic kids and and neurotypical kids so technically they're talking about autistic kids but clearly you don't grow out of autism all right so the findings they were published in the Journal of nature medicine autism according to the research is associated with differences in lipid lipid metabolism which is the way our body processes fats so this is interesting now the
research investigated the panel of nearly 800 different facts in the blood plasma of 765 kids included amongst that 765 kids was 485 autistic kids and it was identified a potential link this is where it's fascinating between reduced levels of certain long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and poor sleep huh this is insane man all right so long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids they're essential fatty acids right so they're essential that means we need them right you could find them in things lik
e a fish oil eggs meat that kind of stuff now they play of course this is again this is the research they play an important role in neurodevelopment in metabolism and immune function Studies have suggested that a deficiency in these fatty acids may increase the risk of various health problems including cardiovascular disease which is really important for autistic people and adults that is to think about diabetes again important and mental health disorders so this kind of this link This research
link is pretty pretty intense when you think about it interestingly the researchers found that the lipodome signatures of children with poor sleep were similar to signatures of an unhealthy diet in indicating a potential mechanism by which sleep problems contribute to poor health outcomes now the research says the next step for the research is to investigate the link between sleep diet and autism-related traits across infancy and childhood to better understand the factors affecting brain develop
ment and in turn life outcomes like education employment and quality of life so I guess the key thing from the research is they conducted a study of 765 kids 485 are autistic kids and identified a potential link between reduced levels of certain long chain polyunsaturated fat fatty acids and poor sleep amongst those autistic kids it's just wow fascinating but okay research examples let's get to some strategies clearly sleep is essential for our physical and mental health essential for all people
not just autistic people we all need a good night's sleep to function properly as human beings right okay well how about we briefly talk about some strategies for autistic people who experience these types of sleep disturbances the first and most obvious strategy I reckon is to establish a consistent bedtime to be very clear about sleep hygiene why would autistic people be so based on routines and structures and plans and stability and dependability but then not treat sleep like that it's an in
teresting thought to think about it might be confronting it might be irrelevant it's an interesting thought I'm saying it should be it should be as routine and structured as everything else in the autistic person's life why well like other things those structures retain signal the brain it's time to do my passion my special interest now it's time to have lunch now it's time to do this now right and you provide that stability it seems the brain it's time to relax now it's time to sleep now it's t
ime to get up now right so it works the same another potentially helpful strategy to overcome sleeping difficulties for autistic people is use sensory AIDS use things that you know are around do weighted blankets help you go to sleep do that kind of weight that kind of hug help you fall asleep or relax easier you know these are the kind of things you should look into now we have these noise machines in our kids rooms just like a machine like the size of my hand it plugs into a PowerPoint and it
makes white noise and all other noises right there's like heartbeat and you know streams like water and crickets and animals but we find the white noise so the actual what's called White Noise right we find that on and very low really low really helps so as a sleep aid you might find that you know it's that it's too quiet or it's too noisy so you know those types of noise machines White Noise machines can also be really helpful I mean we literally have them in both our kids rooms not when their
babies like still the hope is these types of AIDS will calm the body and promote relaxation which then will manifest into a good night's sleep another strategy you might want to give a try which definitely is used by some autistic people it's things like aromatherapy now someone really hypersensitive so highly sensitive to Smells this doesn't really work for me but some people really find things like lavender oil those kind of scents in their room whether it's a spray or a scent or whatever arom
atherapy of some kind can really promote relaxation so hey it's worth a try another key strategy could be simply using relaxation techniques you might not think aromatherapy is for you but maybe techniques are for you and it can be meditation mindfulness but it can also be something just as simple as breathing breathing exercises slow breathing exercises the kinds of give your body a chance to fully debrief so you know you are slowly breathing in and slowly breathing out you know some people lik
e to do it six seconds in six seconds hold six seconds out as in you are breathing out over six seconds breathing it does that make sense in the end all these techniques whether it's yoga meditation whatever they're all promoting a calmness of the mind right if you calm your mind you calm your body it promotes better sleep whatever strategy you try I understand that really at its core it's about finding things that physically and mentally and emotionally help you relax and unwind and let go and
calm yourself into a like some sort of ballpark of I can go to sleep now now if you excuse me I'm off for a sleep sure I might not go to sleep what am I kidding myself I'll go to sleep I've got an autistic kid I'll sleep like a baby waking up every one or two hours needing a change hungry and thirsty let's move on hey if you have any topics that you'd like me to cover in upcoming videos let's put them in the comments below That'll be amazing thank you so much for your support I really do appreci
ate it honestly and truly until my next video thank you for watching and we'll talk soon
Comments
My husband and I share a bed for intimate encounters but we each sleep alone in separate rooms. It made a huge difference in our marriage when we both were getting better sleep.
I would love a video touching on the gut-brain connection for us neurodivergent folk. We’ve studied it in my nursing school very briefly but it looks like a fascinating topic.
At 61 years of age, i finally asked my doctor yesterday for some kind of psychological evaluation. I told her that I thought I was autistic. Today I received a call from my local social services and I will be receiving help very soon. Thanks for all the great videos, Orion.
the lines that got me hooked "up tp 80% of autistic people struggle with sleep" and "one common issue is the difficulty falling asleep". OH MY GOSH! Absalutly yes I hardly EVER just go to sleep at night
Thank you!!! I was sleep deprived for the entire 15 years of my first marriage because my husband insisted that I sleep in the same bed. I was single for 7 years between marriages and I made it clear up front that I will have my own bedroom before I agreed to get married again. We did try to sleep together a few nights, but he quickly realized why it was in both of our best interest to have our own bedrooms. We've been married over 18 years now and have slept in the same bed probably less than 10 times. I've only become aware of being on autism spectrum about 15 years ago (self-diagnosed). But only after discovering channels like yours a few months ago have I FINALLY begun to understand and appreciate myself! THANKS!!! I saw about a dozen psychiatrist over about 10 years and none of them ever suggested autism. Their many drugs wrecked my health and turned me into an obese, homebound rapid cycling bipolar with HORRIBLE mixed episodes, that led to several suicide attempts, so I stopped going to them about 10 years ago. For the past 7 years I have focused on diet, sleep. education and exercise and have slowly regained my health and happiness.
I definitely relate to Circadian Rhythm Delay and it's really annoying how quickly I can slip into it, particularly at weekends. I have all these plans to do stuff but Come Friday Night I can't get to sleep until about 4/5am then don't wake up until Midday and I'm so groggy I have difficulty being fully awake until at least 2 pm then that's most of the day gone! Come Sunday night I have to force going to bed early because of work the next day. Mondays are a real struggle because of lack of sleep! Then I get angry with myself for having another wasted weekend. I have tried going to bed early on a Friday to get up the next day as if it was a work day but it doesn't seem to work. My brain knows it's not a work day so will either wake me up in the middle of the night or keep me asleep through all alarms until midday again! Because it knows it's not a workday and I don't have to get up even if I want to. Grrr!
Have to chime in here as I am a late diagnosed autistic (diagnosed at 44 after partner was working with autistics and realised my issues where similar). For sleeping when young I had lots of nightmares / night terrors and similar issues. I got into the habit of always reading a book (fantasy / sci fi usually) as I lay in bed and setting myself 'within' that world for dreaming as I went to sleep. I still do it now and it really helps put the daily stresses out my head before I go to bed. If I don't do this I just tend to lay there worrying at best. Just a way of deprogramming my head out of its daily worries. Thank you Orion Kelly, as you have noted even more things that I knew where different but buried and am still discovering are linked to my neurology.
I’ve been a night owl my entire life (50 now) with bouts of seasons of insomnia. Right at the start of every summer my circadian rhythm does a complete flip flop. Luckily I work for myself so I can control my schedule in that regard.
I am high functioning Asperger's as an adult woman and ALL of these resonate for me. I also hate being touched by most people and dont feel safe in the same bed with anyone but my mate. I grew up without any touch or hugs whatsoever from parents or loved ones. I am now a cynical goth misanthrope with a sharp tongue who spends almost all my time alone.
Good interesting point with the 'noise-machine' assisting young ones to sleep. For me the night is so quiet 'in a good sense, soo peaceful, all other humans dead asleep, the world is quiet and a beautiful time to be awake sleeping from 4-5am to midday or so.
Hi Orion, thank you, as usual your videos articulate our lives which until recently were experienced in isolation and often ostracism. My son wouldn't, couldn't sleep, I was hauled over the coals for poor parenting, not providing a conducive bedtime routine, not listening to all the "expert" mum's out there. His sleepless nights meant my sleepless nights because he would not settle without me present. Finally with an expert social worker and psychiatrist he was prescribed melatonin, a substance naturally secreted by the body which regulates our body clocks. On the whole it helps, there are still some problems but far less. It probably wouldn't work for everybody but it works for him
It's such an eye opener (non pun intended) that after so many years of not knowing the reason for constant struggle of sleeping and waking identified. Not that it's easily resolvable. But still a relief to have that knowledge. I'm always anxious and worrying. Over sensitive to noise, light, textural comfort. Usually end up sitting next to partner while they sleep or leaving and going downstairs at night so I don't disturb them while I can't sleep. You're spot on with everything 👌 even comfort zones and night terrors. Just came back from partner's family holiday, struggled so much. A whole week of even more disregulated sleep than usual. Now making up for lost sleep, trying to get used to home agen. I wanna see an Orion Kelly autism and adhd documentary/docuseries. 😊 You convey things so nicely I can't find words for it atm. But it'd be awesome to have more ways to get knowledge out there. Awkward humour love it 😅😂
3:28 The bit about getting some sunlight in your eyes when you go somewhere new is not a useless tip it’s actually scientifically proven that getting daylight first thing in the morning resets your circadian rhythm gives you more energy and can help your overall sleep. It’s actually a brilliant idea to suggest doing that during travel especially when going overseas because the shock to the system that is to move through one time zone is bad enough when you go through several it can really mess up your whole system.
This has been a highly educational video for me, seeing issues I experience are indeed linked to autism. There are so many of these issues that I experience but didn't know could be linked to autism. Some of these sleep disorders I had heard of previously, but not linked to autism, others were new to me. So I learned a lot in this video. Thanks, Orion!
💙 Thank a lot. I have many of theses, and also Sleep Paralysis sometimes. Meditation before sleeping, and healing frequencies (Hz)/mediation music help a lot. I also let them in background during the day. I feel/senses the energies, and therefore I the feelings of others, and if their energy/frequency is good or bad, and their suffering, even through the videos. 💙😢🫂 I hear and sometimes sense the vibrations in the walls, windows, floor, or even objects, when the vehicles pass (cars, motorcycles, scooters), the trucks don't bother me as much. I feel like a very vulnerable animal. Even if I have Asperger, Giftedness (more than 130 or 140 IQ) and maybe ADHD, the suffering is the same or even more depending of the person. We all need support, compassion, kindness and a lot of calm, we need more love. I think Asperger/Autism level 1 need as much support than the other levels of Autism.
Perfect timing - This was the first thing I saw when I went on YouTube during the wee hours of this morning because I couldn’t sleep lol
So I just discovered I'm autistic this month! When I have trouble sleeping, I've discovered that THC helps a lot 💚
I had the worst sleeping habits in the world and could never fix it. I drove for uber for a couple years during the pandemic and only slept and woke up naturally the whole time. Afterwards, i feel like my whole bioclock is reset, and i can't even go without sleep like I used to if I tried. I think a lot of these problems stem from the hyper-structured lives we live not allowing for long-term systems like the circadian rythm to reassert themselves biologically.
I am usually awake when your videos are released because I'm still awake at 2am (another Californian here too). Restless legs is my biggest obstacle to good sleep. And it feels very validating to hear that is a problem for so many others. I have been taking Ambien for decades now because it is the only thing that helps (which if you know it is not common). Strangely it no longer has a sedative effect on me, but it does calm my legs for most of the night. But by morning, my legs are twitching again.
That's really interesting. I'm struggling to sleep since ever. I was at a hospital because of a depression and they gave that medicine called Mirtazapin. That helps me pretty well with that sleeping issue. Sadly my last night was horrible because of various nightmares.