Neurodivergence

I have recently learned that this is called Delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS) and is very common in many people 'on the spectrum'. I think it's nonsense to call it a syndrome but that's modern society for you.

Anyway, I usually don't sleep before 4am, often even later. It's rough 😬

Absolutely believe in chronotypes. Retired now, thank god. But my best REM sleep has always happened somewhere between 5 am and 9 am. Even when I had to follow everyone else's schedule, I absolutely had to be able to sleep in Saturday morning. If I didn't, at some point I'd have to go off in a corner later in the week and just sort of waking-dream to catch up on REM.

I fought against my nature for years and tried the "push through the pain" method for most of my career. I burnt out of yet another job at the beginning of this year and decided I never wanted to work 9-5 again. I retrained to be a teacher and now I give afternoon and evening classes. I do sub work on the occasional morning but I won't do two days in a row.

I'm finding a lot of my executive functioning is better now that I've had enough sleep! I'm no longer living in survival mode constantly.

The improvement in my quality of life is incredible. I feel like one of those people who starts their day at 5am now. I have time in the morning to eat, exercise and get ready for the day before I head in to work. But instead of getting up at 5 I'm getting up around 10 instead. It's glorious.

I have ADHD and find that I either have very early rising or very late rising. I can't do getting up a 7am very well, I feel sick and don't really wake for many hours if I try to do so. But getting up at 430am? Sure, POP, I'm up, no worries. Or go to sleep at 9am? Sure, no worries, I will pop up at 5pm and be ready to go, no issues.

I used to work a shift work job in IT and it was pretty awful because the roster rotated over 11 weeks. You would start at 7am for a week or two, then shift forward into a mix of 8am to 11am for a while, then shift forward to 12pm to 2pm, then everyone on 3pm, and finally the rotation back to 7am with a small subset of the team doing the 11pm to 7am shift. Just as you would get used to one sleep pattern you would have to shift forward so you could never really get used to anything. I also lived 2-2.5 hours away depending on the transport, so an 8 hour shift was a 12-13 hour day, along with me frequently taking overtime up to 65 hours a week.

Now I work a more manual job driving a truck and doing multi-drop deliveries and I have found that much better. I start at around 530am, load a truck, drive around my town dropping off stuff, and finish around lunch time. The exercise is great for my ADHD, I have packed on muscle, and I have way fewer sensory issues with a supposedly loud truck (earplugs) than I did with an office environment (headset).

chronotypes are real. But there's no type that stays up all night. You'll just get tired a few hours later and thus wake up a few hours later max.

Try getting enough sunlight during the day, avoid bright light after sundown. Sleep in total darkness. Maybe try a light therapy lamp for 15 minutes after wakeup in the morning. Avoid coffee during the day. Physical activity, even light one, helps a LOT.

You should notice a difference after 2-3 weeks. If in doubt, ask a doctor.