'Sleep Hygiene' isn't for Everyone | Trying to Sleep Neurodivergent, Disabled, Chronically Ill

uh hello friends, I'm

trying

not to get too upset about this turtleneck look on camera, so hello friends, it's me, Artie, just those pronouns. I thought I'd talk about

sleep

hygiene

and like everything, I mean, yeah, I'm

chronically

multiple. I am a multiply

neurodivergent

human being. I've had trouble

sleep

ing through my ears for almost my entire life. I don't remember exactly the details of my adolescence, but I do remember that as a child I would fall asleep while watching the television on very regularly. Same thing during my teenage years or at least being on my laptop at night and always, you know, being terribly tired during the next day of school.

Same thing when I had a job, it didn't matter how well I slept in general outside of work, but always

trying

to get a good night's sleep the night before work just never worked, so I always ended up at work. It's extremely tiring let alone the fact that I also have to deal with general fatigue anyway since I started sleeping a little better when I was in college. I didn't have a strict schedule, there are only a few classes a week, maybe they start earlier and I would stay out quite late during the week as well as at the weekends in the pub with my friends and just come home at some point . between 11 and 1, maybe a little bit later at night and then continue, continue with my current sleep cycle is the best I've ever had, but there are some very privileged reasons why, so I just want to talk about Yes, why sleep.

Hygiene is something like that. I have been told many times to work on my sleep

hygiene

. Things I remember being mentioned via GPS, for example, where a year's worth of typical exercise, diets manage stress, no screens in bed, cutting before bed, having a mindfulness routine. and meditation and just this concept of pushing away the thoughts that you have at night and not taking naps to make up for the lost sleep. I also looked it up in this video to see what kind of things were mentioned now that they are. You're a little bit different, um, so yeah, regular sleep times are trying to follow the same kind of sleep pattern.

Do not fall sleep. Get up and do something relaxing, something I half agree with. Create a calm environment. Write down your concerns. Move on. sleep better less caffeine less alcohol less any type of substances that can affect your natural sleep cycle, so my sleep problems have always tended to be present, like I have a very noisy brain when things calm down, I have never been able to alone go to sleep and be really quiet um I have a lot of ruminating thoughts that will keep going around and if there's something particularly on my mind uh at some point that worries me um I have a habit of rehearsing.

I had a moment of this recently where I was rehearsing an email like I used to rehearse conversations, but this time I was rehearsing an email, so yeah, I did Don't Force and Get Up and wrote down your worries, that kind of combination. because at least then my brain would shut up, yeah, so I pretty much understand it. I also have to deal with pain, insomnia right now, more than general insomnia, where yes, my chronic pain without the right type of medication is like intense discomfort and pain throughout the body, it is like a deep feeling, very deep, that when stretching it doesn't even like to touch the tip, so yes, if I forget the painkillers or take them at the wrong time, I face a lot of pain, insomnia, too.

I have a lot less fatigue now because of my ADHD medication, but I still do it and when you're fatigued during the day to the point where you're not doing much physically or mentally, it can be difficult to rest. and you fall asleep like a lot of times people experience overexhaustion, you're so tired but you can't, you just can't go to sleep. I've never been a big nap person. I have naps from time to time. I look at it as if my body is telling me that I need to go to sleep right now. I need you to sleep with your phone now because yeah, I don't tend to have a lot of changes in my sleeping patterns anymore and I don't really take naps very often, so if my body is really struggling to stay awake, I feel like it's my body telling me I need to rest. further.

You know, there's nothing inherently wrong with doing things differently, which is the first kind of thing I want to address in this. Well, I used to experience it too, so I mentioned it briefly before, like if I have somewhere to get to early the next day, I'll always have trouble going to bed because I'm always sure I'm going to wait up late. I don't know something, but then I sleep very badly because I wake up every hour or so, like the next day, the next day, responsibilities, anxiety is a pretty big factor, as are sleep patterns, my first point and point is that there is nothing inherent.

It's wrong to do it differently so I have it all written down here of what they tell you to do and what I remember being told to do there's nothing wrong with doing it differently other than this is not the beginning and the end - When it comes to how we work, there is never a one-size-fits-all option and that's the same with sleep. I feel like I've been seeing a lot more articles that reference sleep studies, that show and talk about how In fact, many of us naturally have different sleep cycles and I also think that in general, along with many other things in our Lives, our sleep cycles can change as we change, so overall my first piece of advice is don't feel bad about doing what works for you. and don't feel bad if that changes, you just have to figure it out again, so the things that work for me personally are some of which help sometimes, but a lot of mine are actually the opposite of what they tell you you do.

I will say the biggest thing that has made a difference in my sleep schedule is not having a full-time job, not being on this Catalyst hamster wheel of having to work 40+ hours a week and being awake at six or seven in the morning. being at work eight or nine for them to be there eight plus hours and then coming home late, I think part of that is forcing mental and physical exhaustion anyway, which I know doesn't help sleep patterns. , but also, yeah, that pre-work anxiety I think a lot of people talk about something similar, but mostly on a Sunday night before a new week starts, so this is what I meant when I said I'm very privileged when it comes to why my sleeping pattern is good now.

One privilege I have is that my family supports me in a way that means I don't have to force myself into a work environment that would be detrimental to me in many ways and not just to my sleep pattern but to me as well. The most important thing I can say is that you know, if you're really struggling, it's probably not your fault, it's probably capitalism, here we go. I mean, I think a lot of people have enjoyed working from home because they don't need to. A lot of the things you have to do to work in an office or a building, you know, commuting, and that includes having a lot more flexibility in terms of when you're asleep, when you wake up, and how you get dressed. for places because you know a lot of the time she spends getting ready in the morning is putting on appropriate clothes and possibly putting on makeup and you know all those kinds of things like my mom works from home she's 90 years old in her pajamas and maybe she takes a shower. at lunchtime instead of in the morning and you know there's a lot more flexibility in that, um and that's just I want to stress to

everyone

here watching this that they probably had amazing things that are out of your control and it sucks, so take your capitalism. with me and let's move on to the next point, yes, because of that, I have naturally gotten into the rhythm of a sleep cycle of about eight hours and I usually wake up between seven and maybe nine at the latest now in the morning and that Never I thought I would be a morning person.

I'm still not really a modern person, but I'm like a daytime person now. I never thought I would be a day person. I always thought I'd be like a night person in the afternoon, um, but. Just having the flexibility of not having to wake up super immediately has led me to a very natural eight-hour sleep cycle, so if you have the same luxury as I do of being able to experiment with your sleep cycle, do it, literally . I get up at the same time on the weekends too, this is the most rested I've ever felt and I have so many chronic conditions that of course fatigue will come with fatigue or make it difficult to sleep, and it's not usually sleep very restorative.

It's the best sleep I've ever had It's not perfect but it's much better than anything else I've ever had and I actually feel a little more alive But there are other types of sleep cycles that may be worth looking into as some people really works best sleeping in two separate parts. I think my grandparents do this to be honest by accident, they sleep between four and six hours at night and maybe a couple of hours in the afternoon as a nap or even more. a 50 50. It's definitely worth looking into other types of sleep cycles and, if you can, see if that works for you.

The way I've done it, I've combated my annoying voice in my brain that can ruminate on things, one of them being yes. Write down what's bothering you, yeah, if my brain is really having a hard time, I'll take out my phone or sit on my laptop or maybe use a notebook or something and write whatever. Sometimes I also just usually do that before I go to bed because I have my kind of weekly schedule, if there's something I need to remember to do, I'll tend to write because I have extra space here and at the top I'll add things in there, the only thing that I've found that it's really helped me quiet that annoying voice in my brain is that I personally find that watching live streams of video games or playing games on YouTube helps me relax, so it's also taken me a while to really figure out the types of games. and streamer or video types like YouTubers, whatever I can see in this capacity, but basically I'm saying it's enough mental stimulation to distract your brain from those thoughts or keep you awake, but not too much mental stimulation to keep you awake. because you want to see it, this is also the reason why I can't really read before bed because there are two ways: I will fall asleep trying to read the book or I will be up all night reading the book, so this is kind of what The only thing that has helped me have that kind of routine and regular habit is that that is what I do when I go to sleep.

I literally lie down with my laptop next to my face because my eyesight is incredibly poor without my glasses on, but this is what a lot of doctors and specialists will totally get mad about because it's a screen. I don't think I'm going, friend. It helps me sleep. Shut up, like I'm much more likely to sleep. From that, um, I'll probably fall asleep in half an hour or an hour, which is fast for me. It used to take me absolute hours. I've also mastered the art of pillow placement, which can help my friends with chronic illnesses and chronic pain.

I have such a specific way of positioning my pillows and that helps me maintain a comfortable position and prevents further injury during the night, which is important if you're new here or don't experience chronic pain. It's something a lot of us wake up with injuries because we sleep a little weird, so yeah, I also recommend working on the pillows if you can get a good mattress too, but I also know it's expensive, my mattress probably needs replacing. I can't afford it, but. Yeah video games are kind of like that, it was literally just a big game changer for me to be honest I also have night mode night shift on the devices so all the lights change so I like the orange light instead of blue light or whatever.

I also have do not disturb for similar periods from late night to morning, so nothing will wake me up during the night. It's a specific contact or two for emergencies because I also had a problem most of the time. I would fall asleep, my phone would keep going out to group chats full of who's up all night, not the one, so do not disturb, set for night time or when you're sleeping, is amazing. I'll also say pee right before you. Go to bed. I am a thirsty person. I think it may be the pots that I haven't been diagnosed with yet, but sometimes I don't listen to this advice and I have to wake up in the middle or, oh my god, in the. in the middle of the night or very early in the morning because I'm desperate to pee right before going to bed and not drinking too much water before going to bed, okay, I know it sounds silly, but like I'm serious, I also have a lot of problems with the temperature of the heaters.

God knows what specifically the reason my body is in and temperature control is not your stir fry, so I'll have it. Well, we don't have heaters yet. We still do not have. a properly configured boileryet, so at the moment we still don't have any home-like heating, so I have plug-in radiators and electric fans and I'll have them all year round, basically, in case my room gets really really warm sometimes, um because it's very small, uh, if I don't keep the door open, it gets pretty hot in here and also if I leave the window open, it can get really cold in here or if I don't have the heat on at all.

It's very cold and you know, I have the option to adjust the temperature to help you sleep. I personally can't sleep with socks on and I can't sleep when my feet are warm, so I like it to be a little cooler in the room, but it's not very cold in the morning, I don't want to get out of bed because that My other problem that I've realized as we get back into winter is that when it was really cold in the morning in my room I just didn't want to get up. I also don't understand people who don't need dimming buttons, as I know there are some people who find it helps to wake up and go to sleep with so much light literally outside. they're great, not me, not me, especially since it changes through the seasons, um, it's just not the only one, um, a lot of my relaxation time tends to be in the evenings, it boils down to kind of an evening um, you know, my bedtime is almost here. 10 10 30.

That's why I go to bed, not necessarily when I go to sleep, so I couldn't go to bed at 4 p.m. in the UK, it's when it gets dark like at Peak. in the winter and then getting up at seven in the morning, whatever it is, and then in the summer, obviously, you have less time to sleep, that doesn't work for me, babes, um, so my blind is not very good, but does the job as best as possible. It's almost a blackout blind, it just has a really annoying gap on the edge. I can't seem to fix it, but otherwise, yeah, I basically like to deal with as much darkness as possible so I can stick with my schedule all year long. and then for those of us who have chronic pain, I take pain relievers before I go to bed, I'm on amitriptyline right now, but I'm looking into other options because I've had enough of a lot of my medications. right now and I'm sick of life alotrips lane, when you get used to it, it doesn't have the immediate impacts like when you first start taking it, but it can give you a bit of a hangover effect, so if you take it too late, you're still very dry in the morning, so I have a window of about two hours where I try to take it to avoid the morning hangover effect, but I get enough pain relief throughout the night.

So I don't wake up much or early because that happens too. If I take it too early in the afternoon, then I don't sleep well at night because it's basically worn off. So my window is between five and five. seven uh but I try to lean more towards six six to seven maybe eight if I forget because that also happens so the relief effect of the amitriptyline will last longer through the night and it will be fine for my seven and a half a regular wake up time , so yeah, if any of you also take pain relievers or take some type of pain reliever before you go to bed, definitely determining the optimal time to take it is really important and helpful, and you may have other options.

I've tried other things like bathing, but I also need to have enough energy after the bath to complete the skincare routine and also enough time after the bath to do all of that before bed, so I tend to bathe and shower during the day Be honest, otherwise that's just not going to happen. I have tried herbal tea for an herbal tea. It's disgusting, it's weird that I like any herbal tea. An herbal tea. I can stand enough that I can drink it, um, but for the most part. I think it's disgusting, especially green tea. Very sorry.

I can't drink green tea if it helps you get sick. You know, this is what I mean. We are all very different people. Some things help us. I also like. My caffeine consumption varies. I usually don't consume as much caffeine right now as I used to, that's because I'm on ADHD medication, I just get palpitations at this point, and I've gone crazy on my caffeinated drinks anyway. I'm in a breakfast tea phase so maybe I'll drink more tea, which has a lot of caffeine anyway, but I can't seem to finish a cup of coffee right now, so I guess.

That's just my body telling me I don't want coffee right now, which is sad because coffee is a really good tasting drink so it is what it is, but yeah, some people are not affected by caffeine at all. absolute and is not related to ADHD. Or it just depends on the person and their genetics, basically, so yes, I can drink caffeinated drinks very close to bedtime and have no problems falling asleep. Alcohol for me depends. I think a drink might help me fall asleep a little. easier, uh, more than that, it often means I'll get up in the middle of the night because I feel terrible and I've mixed my drinks and I shouldn't have, but it's also that I don't know, you're not supposed to drink a lot of alcohol because it keeps you awake and that's fine, whatever it is.

I'm trying to think of other things. I have tried meditation. The only meditation I can do even vaguely is guided meditation. Personally, I think it's something related to ADHD. I just can't sit in silence, my brain does other things, so my preference for most things is just constant distraction techniques, because it keeps my brain a little bit quieter than if there's no noise, I have no noise. I've had periods where I've had to take sleeping pills because I was sleeping so much, but you usually only have a week to try to get back into the swing of things.

It's been a while since I needed to do that. Every once in a while I have like a sleepless night once every three months or so it's part of my routine, to be honest now I'll have a night where I don't sleep much or I don't sleep at all, yeah I have something like that. of my tips for that too like if you've really decided that you're, you've realized that you can't, you're not going to go to sleep anytime soon, I definitely say it's time to get up. I always like to turn on the lights. I really don't want to wake up like this.

I can sit in the dark and do things to be honest, a lot of times at night. I do it at night when I don't sleep. for no reason I will do really boring and monotonous things that I hate doing during the day, but I will get through a lot of them on my sleepless nights, so I do a lot of things like SEO blogging, I add a lot of things like I may check my emails and delete or organize emails and schedule some responses so you don't send them in the middle of the night and it seems a little more normal, but yes, I definitely say I know if I'm struggling to fall asleep.

I probably won't fall asleep, so I'm not going to go do something relaxing like you suggest. I'm just going to do something else, because I definitely get a lot more stressed out from the pressure of trying to go to sleep compounded by that, so yeah, if I'm having trouble sleeping because of ruminating thoughts, I'll sit down and write things down in the app. notes from my phone. Notes app if I'm still starting to sleep. after that I'll just sit down and start doing other things and I'll be really cranky and it won't be fun to be around that day and I'll probably eat a lot of food, but you know, that was part of I'm normal when it comes to sleeping patterns and that's how i handle it because i know that trying to sleep will only make me angrier and you just wasted a ton of time that you could be doing something else and that helps me.

I feel a little better for not sleeping. I'll also be much less functional during the day after not sleeping, so I might as well do some things at night when I'm somehow functional. You know, I've had other problems. of having difficulty sleeping due to post-traumatic stress disorder. I've had trauma related to blood work and cannulation, so when my PTSD was pretty bad before, I was actually able to work with my therapists with EMDR therapy, which is a type of, I don't know, trauma therapy. . Some people say it's exposure therapy, if you want to know more then comment because I haven't talked about it in much detail here yet, but yeah, before I got that kind of treatment, I was dealing with a lot of flashbacks and stuff like that.

So the nights before appointments where I would have to get a cannula or blood work, I would often experience a lot of flashbacks and physical responses, as well as the next day's appointment, so yes, that's what I recommend therapy for, but in general. There are also many other reasons why we may also have difficulty sleeping. Yeah, I really don't know what else to add here. Obviously, if you have any tips that have worked for you, leave them in the comments below, let me know. your routine is like why do you think your routine is like that um for me obviously I have the combination of uh neurodivergence physical disability chronic pain nobody's easy yeah let's have a conversation about why what could we try instead of the typical kind of advice very annoying ones that seem to be one size fits all or their kind of broken vibration sleep is really important for a lot of things including your body's ability to heal and recover and reduce stress hormones and things like that, it's a huge Basically, the factor in every part of your life is how your body and your brain rest too, it's not just you, you, emotionally, it's like your whole body rests when you're asleep, so if we can, if we can, we can do something to help Because he sleeps a little better and calmer we will do our best, otherwise let's tear down capitalism and maybe we won't have the problem anymore anyway, leave a like on the video, help the algorithm and help me reach to other people, especially if you share it. the video that also helps the algorithm and I will reach new people because you are sharing the video.

Subscribe to my channel too if you want to see more of me here. I recently made some videos about my executive dysfunction and how I'm trying to manage that, so I definitely recommend you check them out as well. If you have other questions or topics you'd like me to discuss, let me know and I'll see if I have the executive function. do it because most of the time it's not a girl, um, but I do my best oh, my back hurts and I'm really hot. I can't wait to take off this shirt, why have I done this to myself?

I don't know, I love suffering where I was, I'll see you next week, goodbye, foreigner.