Tag: boredom

Autism and Intrusive Sleep

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

To kickstart 2026, this week I’m going to take a look at the issue of autism and intrusive sleep.

So what exactly is that when it’s at home?

As discussed in my previous post on sleep and autism, 40 to 80% of autists experience issues with sleep. Intrusive sleep (not to be confused with narcolepsy) occurs when you suddenly experience drowsiness or involuntarily lose consciousness, a phenomenon that is usually triggered by boredom/loss of interest in autists with co-morbid ADHD (aka AuDHD). Also known as theta wave intrusion, this phenomenon occurs when slow theta brain waves associated with relaxation, meditation and deep sleep are triggered by a boring task, causing the brain to abruptly disengage, and you to nod off. Essentially these theta waves act as bridges between consciousness and wakefulness.

So many college lectures drifting in and out of consciousness are starting to make sense!

For much of my adult life I’ve struggled with daytime sleepiness hitting me at the most unfortunate times- in the middle of lectures, in crowded theatres during a musical, and several times throughout the work day, especially when dealing with monotonous tasks. I always thought it was due to a lack of sleep the previous night (and as a night owl admittedly, it often is), but I’ve noticed it happening more and more despite having a decent nights sleep. One minute I’m working away, the next I get the sudden urge to take a nap. Conversely if I’m engaged and stimulated, I could be running on 3 hours of sleep and not feel in the least bit sleepy!

But is there any reason the neurodivergent brain is susceptible to intrusive sleep?

People with autism and ADHD tend to have excess theta waves compared with neurotypicals particularly in the frontal cortex of the brain. Higher levels of theta are associated with lower levels of fast beta brainwaves which are needed for focus and alertness, making neurodivergent brains more prone to intrusive sleep and other sleep disturbances.

So don’t judge me too harshly the next time you see me struggling to stay awake in the middle of the day 🫠

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings! 🙂

Have a lovely weekend!

Aoife

0

Autism and Boredom

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

This week I’d like to discuss a topic that many autists struggle with- boredom. We all know the feeling, that mental itch that makes you want to jump out of your skin, but for autists boredom can be so much worse.

Many autists, especially those with co-morbid ADHD, crave constant stimulation. As a result, boredom occurs more easily than neurotypicals. A simple lack of interest in a topic, if a task is too easy, or feeling overwhelmed can trigger boredom and autists will tune out fast. When this happens, it can lead to negative behaviours where an autist will act out and be destructive and disruptive, it might even trigger a meltdown in chronic scenarios (I have had this happen in work following months of tedious tasks🙈).

Boredom has always been a challenge for me. I constantly need to be working on something. In school I often got in trouble for reading/drawing/writing during class as I would get ahead of my work and need to keep my hands busy while waiting for the lesson to move forward. If anything they should have encouraged my habit for productivity in my downtime! 🤷‍♀️

But what does the science have to say?

As I’ve discussed previously, autists have higher levels of stimulating neurotransmitters and lower levels of calming neurotransmitters, so their neurons are firing excessively in the brain. When they aren’t able to channel this excess stimulation into something, boredom takes over which can lead to negative behaviours that cause problems. Autists also have dysregulated levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine- the chemical involved in motivation, pleasure and reward systems. When dopamine levels are low, motivation is low, so when an activity is not enjoyable, autists won’t have the brain power to engage and boredom will set in.

On another level, there have been reports from doctors claiming that FMRI scans of ADHD brains show that areas of the brain associated with pain light up when they experience boredom, suggesting that boredom might actually be a painful experience for neurodivergents. However, other neuroscientists have refuted this claim as the human pain response largely remains a mystery, so making this assumption from the data is a bit of a stretch.

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings!

Have a lovely weekend!

Aoife

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑