Barely sleeping. It's affecting my school work.

I don't know what to do anymore. College has just started back up after the Christmas holiday's and my sleep has gotten even worse. At most, before College started (in the summer and again over Christmas) my sleep usually settles at around 5-7 hours a night, which is fine for me. But right now, I'm averaging about 3-4 hours per night. I struggle with school work so much - I'm currently awaiting my result on my ASD assessment and the lady who did the assessment has a strong feeling that my (possible) ASD could be impacting my ability to do my school work (in the sense that I find it hard to get motivated, concentrate and actually understand what it is I am supposed to be doing). That is then affecting my sleep as I am up until 2 or 3 am trying to do the work I have due the next day and once I give up on the work, I fall into bed but still take an hour or two to fall asleep... just to wake back up at 7am.

It's gotten to the point where I am falling asleep on the bus to and from college, today I sat in the bathrooms and cried my eyes out because all I want is sleep. And last night, I went to sleep at 12am (I fell asleep fairly quickly), but then I tossed and turned all night because I felt guilty about ignoring the fact I had work to do - just so I could get a good nights sleep.

I really don't know what to do at all. And just to put it into perspective, I have 3 mock exams (which, if I don't get my target grades, they wont let me sit the real exams in summer) in 1 week, I have a test to do tomorrow in a subject I find incredibly difficult to write essays and answers for (I know the content, the writing it down is the difficult part) and I have a full topic to learn also by tomorrow.. oh and I have an essay due for tomorrow for the same subject as the test. So I'm stressed out, I doubt I'll be sleeping until 3 or 4 am again tonight.

Khione

Your school work schedule sounds daunting to say the least. Are you taking too many classes? Is there a way that you can cut your work load? Sleep is very important for your health as you know. You have to take care of yourself. Some time has to be used to eat well, sleep well and do the necessary things to stay healthy or you won't be able to get the benefits out of school. I wish you the best and maybe rethink some things.

I started the year doing 4 A-Levels (English qualifications) and 4 A-Levels is what my college requires. I managed to convince them to drop me down to 3 A-Levels (which can only be done in mitigating circumstances - which to be honest, I thought sleep issues, behavioural issues as well as other bouts of mental issues.. was mitigating). So the college let me drop one as my attendence was around 50% because of the stress etc.

This is also my last chance at A-Levels. It's my second try.

Sorry to hear about your sleep problem, its so frustrating tossing and turning. What works for me in prepping for sleep is turning down the lights at leadt an hour before I plan on falling asleep. A relaxing bubblebath and aromatherapy candles and noise machine are also soothing. Not being online or anything that emits blue light before bed because that causes your brain to be alert. Relaxing stretches also helps. Good luck to you.