Sleep is a vital element of wellbeing, influencing everything from immune function and memory to emotional regulation and learning. While high quality sleep is critical for all humans, research shows that it is especially critical — and often out of reach — for autistic individuals. Understanding and prioritizing individualized approaches to sleep can make all the difference.
Sleep
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
In this groundbreaking book, neuroscientist Matthew Walker explores how sleep profoundly impacts our physical and mental health. From boosting memory and creativity to regulating mood and strengthening the immune system, sleep plays a vital role in overall wellbeing. Walker also shares actionable tips to improve sleep, helping readers unlock better health, longevity, and happiness.
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
With two appearances on CBS This Morning and Fresh Air's most popular interview of 2017, Matthew Walker has made abundantly clear that sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why we suffer such devastating health consequences when it is absent. Compared to the other basic drives in life—eating, drinking, and reproducing—the purpose of sleep remains more elusive. Within the brain, sleep enriches a diversity of functions, including our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions. It recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. Dreaming creates a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge, inspiring creativity. In this “compelling and utterly convincing” (The Sunday Times) book, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and marshalling his decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night’s sleep every night. Clear-eyed, fascinating, and accessible, Why We Sleep is a crucial and illuminating book. Written with the precision of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Sherwin Nuland, it is “recommended for night-table reading in the most pragmatic sense” (The New York Times Book Review).
Walker, M. (2017). Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams. Scribner.
How Sleep Shapes Quality of Life in Autistic Adults
This two-year study of 598 autistic adults highlights the crucial role sleep plays in quality of life (QoL). Researchers found that sleep problems were the most significant predictor of lower QoL, while social satisfaction helped buffer this effect. Addressing sleep issues may be a key pathway to improving QoL for autistic adults.
How Sleep Shapes Quality of Life in Autistic Adults
Many individuals with autism report generally low quality of life (QoL). Identifying predictors for pathways underlying this outcome is an urgent priority. We aim to examine multivariate patterns that predict later subjective and objective QoL in autistic individuals. Autistic characteristics, comorbid complaints, aspects of daily functioning, and demographics were assessed online in a 2-year longitudinal study with 598 autistic adults. Regression trees were fitted to baseline data to identify factors that could predict QoL at follow-up. We found that sleep problems are an important predictor of later subjective QoL, while the subjective experience of a person’s societal contribution is important when it comes to predicting the level of daily activities. Sleep problems are the most important predictor of QoL in autistic adults and may offer an important treatment target for improving QoL. Our results additionally suggest that social satisfaction can buffer this association.
Deserno, M.K. et. al. (2019) Sleep determines quality of life in autistic adults: A longitudinal study. Autism Research and Treatment.
What Sleep Deprivation Does to Your Brain
Sleep deprivation doesn’t just mean missing out on sleep’s benefits—it leads to profound changes in the brain. This review explores how lack of sleep impacts attention, memory, emotions, and learning, with insights from neuroimaging studies. The findings highlight the critical role of sleep in cognitive and emotional health and its relevance to clinical conditions.
What Sleep Deprivation Does to Your Brain
How does a lack of sleep affect our brains? In contrast to the benefits of sleep, frameworks exploring the impact of sleep loss are relatively lacking. Importantly, the effects of sleep deprivation (SD) do not simply reflect the absence of sleep and the benefits attributed to it; rather, they reflect the consequences of several additional factors, including extended wakefulness. With a focus on neuroimaging studies, we review the consequences of SD on attention and working memory, positive and negative emotion, and hippocampal learning. We explore how this evidence informs our mechanistic understanding of the known changes in cognition and emotion associated with SD, and the insights it provides regarding clinical conditions associated with sleep disruption.
Krause, A. J., et al. (2017). The sleep-deprived human brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 18(7), 404-418.
