ADHD Brains Show Strange Sleep-Like Activity During Everyday Tasks
-
This post did not contain any content.
Interesting, now I wonder whether folks on the autism spectrum perhaps experience less sleep-like brain activity throughout the day. Might explain why meltdowns after stressful situations are a phenomenon, so in the sense that we can't process it as we go.
I don't have a diagnosis, I only score quite high on autism self-tests, but something I also experience is that the mental exhaustion seems to build up in the background over the course of an eventful day, and then in the evening when I'm home, it takes maybe half an hour before it feels like my brain is pushing against my skull in all directions and it becomes really difficult for me to take in new information.
I can also kind of work against those symptoms by meditating or perhaps rather not taking in new information for a few minutes. Naps don't work as well, because it seems like blood circulation is vital for fighting off those symptoms, but I'm also just likely to fall into a really intense, yet not very deep, sleep for a few hours.
It kind of feels my brain caches everything it wants to retain throughout the day and then starts processing it in the evening all at once. And then as it's processing it, it builds up something which needs to be transported off. The closest thing I've heard in that regard, is that mental exhaustion leads to a glutamate buildup: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2333230-why-thinking-hard-for-several-hours-can-leave-you-mentally-exhausted/
It does feel like an extreme version of mental exhaustion.And yeah, long story short, maybe others' brains are able to start processing in the middle of the day, due to this sleep-like brain activity?
Could also be, though, that my social anxiety prevents me from doing this sleep-like brain activity.
I do also have a reputation for exceptionally good memory, so maybe my brain just caches the whole day, because it can. Or this intense post-processing is how it's able to achieve the exceptional memory in the first place, which also seems very likely.This braindump brought to you in the middle of the night, after one of those multi-hour naps. My brain is still not done processing the day, but about 90% there. 🥴
-
Well, that was a depressing read. Too much of it hit home. lol. Well, incredibly unsurprising, I think. Very good to see that - many many thanks <3
My sister, a physician's assistant, openly wondered out loud if I have narcolepsy, so this checks out. My sleep is just shit lol.
-
Interesting, now I wonder whether folks on the autism spectrum perhaps experience less sleep-like brain activity throughout the day. Might explain why meltdowns after stressful situations are a phenomenon, so in the sense that we can't process it as we go.
I don't have a diagnosis, I only score quite high on autism self-tests, but something I also experience is that the mental exhaustion seems to build up in the background over the course of an eventful day, and then in the evening when I'm home, it takes maybe half an hour before it feels like my brain is pushing against my skull in all directions and it becomes really difficult for me to take in new information.
I can also kind of work against those symptoms by meditating or perhaps rather not taking in new information for a few minutes. Naps don't work as well, because it seems like blood circulation is vital for fighting off those symptoms, but I'm also just likely to fall into a really intense, yet not very deep, sleep for a few hours.
It kind of feels my brain caches everything it wants to retain throughout the day and then starts processing it in the evening all at once. And then as it's processing it, it builds up something which needs to be transported off. The closest thing I've heard in that regard, is that mental exhaustion leads to a glutamate buildup: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2333230-why-thinking-hard-for-several-hours-can-leave-you-mentally-exhausted/
It does feel like an extreme version of mental exhaustion.And yeah, long story short, maybe others' brains are able to start processing in the middle of the day, due to this sleep-like brain activity?
Could also be, though, that my social anxiety prevents me from doing this sleep-like brain activity.
I do also have a reputation for exceptionally good memory, so maybe my brain just caches the whole day, because it can. Or this intense post-processing is how it's able to achieve the exceptional memory in the first place, which also seems very likely.This braindump brought to you in the middle of the night, after one of those multi-hour naps. My brain is still not done processing the day, but about 90% there. 🥴
Maybe this is why I have a two phase sleep cycle. To much stuff? Just sleep more! Thanks brain. Thanks body.
-
This post did not contain any content.
Weird. Wonder if it's tied into some sort dream related thing?
I know when I dream o seem to have ultra ADHD, nothing is consistent and I'm constantly moving from one subject to another and not able to focus on a single plot/conversation/idea etc
-
Interesting, now I wonder whether folks on the autism spectrum perhaps experience less sleep-like brain activity throughout the day. Might explain why meltdowns after stressful situations are a phenomenon, so in the sense that we can't process it as we go.
I don't have a diagnosis, I only score quite high on autism self-tests, but something I also experience is that the mental exhaustion seems to build up in the background over the course of an eventful day, and then in the evening when I'm home, it takes maybe half an hour before it feels like my brain is pushing against my skull in all directions and it becomes really difficult for me to take in new information.
I can also kind of work against those symptoms by meditating or perhaps rather not taking in new information for a few minutes. Naps don't work as well, because it seems like blood circulation is vital for fighting off those symptoms, but I'm also just likely to fall into a really intense, yet not very deep, sleep for a few hours.
It kind of feels my brain caches everything it wants to retain throughout the day and then starts processing it in the evening all at once. And then as it's processing it, it builds up something which needs to be transported off. The closest thing I've heard in that regard, is that mental exhaustion leads to a glutamate buildup: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2333230-why-thinking-hard-for-several-hours-can-leave-you-mentally-exhausted/
It does feel like an extreme version of mental exhaustion.And yeah, long story short, maybe others' brains are able to start processing in the middle of the day, due to this sleep-like brain activity?
Could also be, though, that my social anxiety prevents me from doing this sleep-like brain activity.
I do also have a reputation for exceptionally good memory, so maybe my brain just caches the whole day, because it can. Or this intense post-processing is how it's able to achieve the exceptional memory in the first place, which also seems very likely.This braindump brought to you in the middle of the night, after one of those multi-hour naps. My brain is still not done processing the day, but about 90% there. 🥴
I.....with AuDHD I really don't know if my experiences apply to this discussion but I wanna chime in anyway.
Since I was a kid other people had an issue with me for being "too serious" about everything I do, talk, and think about each day, and I had never been able to understand how someone can think about or do something without devoting their brain's energy to it.
Boredom is a suffering torture to me for if I cannot run my mind on something it slowly slogs and shuts down in a very "painful" manner as I drift off despite pushing my willpower to return whatever I am supposed to focus about but find intellectually unstimulating.
Ironically, an intellectually stimulating day is much less exhausting than one that is full of nothing to work on or think about.
Before getting ADHD meds my days ends with a terrible exhaustion that doesn't completely heal after sleeping, and with meds I feel my daily exhaustion reduced dramatically, to the point even some of the days which I forgot my meds I can "push through" because I don't have residue exhaustion from the previous day. -
This post did not contain any content.
So relatable
-
This post did not contain any content.
Had a theory it was something like this. I don’t always catch when I’m daydreaming or distracted by a thought. My wife calls it the <my_name> delay. It’s worse as I age. Sleep deprivation to a mild degree makes me more alert. But the debt catches up eventually.
-
This post did not contain any content.
Brainwaves are one thing they measured when I got my second diagnosis (the first was questionnaire-based). I was told my theta waves (associated with sleep) are unusually high and my beta waves (thought & activity) low.
Understanding that hyperactivity is secondary to an underactivation of the brain in ADHD was very enlightening for me. Since then I've taken to napping whenever I feel tired instead of deathmarching through these phases whenever possible. Yes, it messes with my sleep schedule a little bit but it's better than the alternative.
-
Brainwaves are one thing they measured when I got my second diagnosis (the first was questionnaire-based). I was told my theta waves (associated with sleep) are unusually high and my beta waves (thought & activity) low.
Understanding that hyperactivity is secondary to an underactivation of the brain in ADHD was very enlightening for me. Since then I've taken to napping whenever I feel tired instead of deathmarching through these phases whenever possible. Yes, it messes with my sleep schedule a little bit but it's better than the alternative.
I tried to take my meds all in the morning instead of morning + noon. I've spent the last 2 weeks napping from middle afternoon to next morning 🫣
-
I've heard of that phenomenon but I don't remember what it's called. But basically late night feels like the only "me" time we get so we delay going to bed because bed means jumping fast-forward to the next work day.
I view sleep as the finish to the day instead of the start of the next day like my partner told me he does. I thought about it for a minute after he said that bc it was so foreign to me, then I was like "then how do you ever feel rested?"
It seemed relevant when I started typing, but idk, I'm tired 😂
-
I view sleep as the finish to the day instead of the start of the next day like my partner told me he does. I thought about it for a minute after he said that bc it was so foreign to me, then I was like "then how do you ever feel rested?"
It seemed relevant when I started typing, but idk, I'm tired 😂
Makes sense to me :)
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login