they're easy to carry around so you can just stash them in your going-out bag and not remove them (no need to worry about remembering to bring snacks. if you're like me it's not going to happen so get ahead of the issue). they're nutritious and high-protein (brain not letting you prepare food? just grab a handful of nuts! fewer barriers to eating). if you buy nuts in the shell you've got a fun little activity. they have a pleasing texture. there are multiple kinds of nuts to choose from. you can even get mixes with all your favorite types. they pair well with other foods (i eat corn grits for breakfast a LOT. absolutely love it never gets old. unfortunately corn grits are nutritionally nothing, not even calories and aren't really enough to get me through the first half of the day. so i sometimes put nuts in it. makes the texture Exciting and gives me more protein and calories so i won't be hungry all morning). they aren't really messy besides maybe dust that easily wipes off so no scuzz on your hands/sensory ewwww!
my diet is like. 50% peanut at this point. that's my nut of choice. it's wonderful.
note: people with nut allergies are out of luck, i have no tips for you.
Autism tip: even if it doesn’t make you feel tired try melatonin supplements, autistic bodies produce less melatonin which has a negative impact on sleep and resultantly health.
Autistic people have poor introception (ability to sense our body’s signals) so even if you don’t feel tired from melatonin it is still managing your hormone levels.
Melatonin use has been linked to a reduced likelihood of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
I knew I wanted a weighted a blanket almost from the first I heard of them. But they’re expensive - both to buy and to make - and I was concerned about the temperature: a weighted blanket would surely be very warm, and I already had trouble sleeping because of too-high temperatures in summer, so how could I get a blanket that would work for me year-round?
Well, now I have one, and I’ve had it from summer through winter - a full range of temperatures - and I’m very happy with my setup, which does indeed work year-round; so in hopes that this might help out someone else, I’m going to share what I’ve done.
I didn’t want to buy a blanket for two reasons: the expense, and the fact that they usually come with a nice soft textured side, which sounds great but also sounds like it insulates pretty well, which is not what I wanted. Instead I roped my brother (who has a sewing machine) into helping me make one. There are a lot of tutorials out there to help figure it out! I’m treating mine like a regular blanket, which goes in a washable cover so the blanket itself won’t have to be washed unless there’s some kind of an emergency.
The blanket is made out of light cotton and weighted with poly pellets (tiny little bits of plastic that get everywhere if they’re spilled). That amount of fabric isn’t cheap, and the poly pellets (which I got on ebay) cost less per kg the more you buy, so I ended up getting a 50kg sack (way more than I needed and definitely very expensive) in case I ever wanted a weighted anything else, or my brother wanted a blanket too, or something. It took a long time to complete, too - so those super expensive weighted blankets aren’t necessarily overpriced. They just cost a lot to make.
(Sidenote: reaching into the sack of poly pellets is an awesome texture stim, so I’m going to have to set up a better way to use them for that as well.)
Anyway, I’m super happy with it. It’s incredibly comfy, to the point where I had trouble getting up again after just trying it out. There’s a lingering smell of plastic (poly pellets have a strong plastic scent to them), which might have been helped if I’d washed it once before use, but... I didn’t want to wait. I have come to associate the plastic smell with comfort and sleep. (Which is a weird association and possibly not the best thing to inhale all the time? But so it goes.)
The cotton doesn’t insulate much, and the poly pellets work as a heat sink. Which means: in summer, lying directly under the blanket (in its cover, of course), it actually cools me down - so not only can I have the weight, but it actually helps to regulate my temperature! Which is amazing and awesome. By morning it’s absorbed enough of my body heat to not feel cool anymore, and by evening it’ll have cooled off again. (Note that where I live, heat waves tend to come and go. If it stays super hot for more than a few days at a time, it won’t cool off properly anymore. Still: SO MUCH BETTER than any other blanket or lack of blanket I’ve ever had before.)
(Note also that I took this blanket to Croatia for a couple of weeks for a vacation. Croatia was very, very hot, and the blanket didn’t cool off properly; I ended up having to pile the blanket over my torso and keeping my arms and legs outside it. Which was weird, but at least I was able to have weight at all. I seriously can’t sleep without a blanket on me, which is why a cool weighted blanket is a miracle in the summer.)
Anyway, so that’s great for summer! Obviously it’s less good when it gets cool. So once it got to autumn, I got me one of those super-soft microfleece blankets and stuck it underneath the weighted one. There’s my soft texture! And yes, it definitely insulates it a bit. This spring/autumn setup was super soft and comfy, and even though the microfleece is pretty thin on its own, with the weighted blanket on top of it it was heavy enough to be comfy.
If it gets cold enough, though, the cold from the poly pellets leaks through the one layer of microfleece. So for winter I needed to go for one layer more. I was intending to just get a second microfleece blanket, but was worried that it’d get hard to arrange it properly when making the bed (wrangling the weighted blanket into shape is already kind of hard when there’s just one extra blanket pinned beneath it) - and then, almost by accident, I wound up instead getting a mermaid blanket. Also microfleece, super soft on the inside and kind of sparkly on the outside, in the shape of a fish tail. Legs are kinda stuck together, feet go in the fin-bit at the end. I think the intended purpose was as a... sofa blanket sort of thing, for sitting around and reading or whatever? Instead I stuck it in my bed, as the bottom layer, under another microfleece blanket and the weighted one.
I wasn’t sure how this would turn out at first. It feels a bit like a sleeping bag. It definitely limits my freedom of motion around the legs, and makes it a bit harder to turn over in bed. It’s also kind of hard to get in properly and pull it up far enough so my shoulders don’t get cold, since it goes beneath my body as well as on top of it.
That said, on the whole I am very happy with it and think it works better than just a second normal microfleece blanket would have. It gives a bit of extra pressure on the legs, is easy to position correctly when making the bed, and because it goes all the way around my body it’s also warmer. Also: winter isn’t consistently that cold either, so on slightly warmer days I can easily just push it to the side and not use it. Because it’s sort of sewed into shape, it doesn’t get in the way there and rearranging it properly when I need it again is pretty much no extra effort.
This whole setup feels a lot less... thick than I would usually want or expect from a heavy winter blanket, but in terms of weight alone it’s good enough, and the softness goes a long way towards making up for the lack of volume. Also, being able to have a heavy blanket even in summer is seriously THE BEST THING. Not sure if the weighted blanket has improved my sleep in cold times or not, but it has DEFINITELY helped with hot times.
Also, it can also be used as a stim toy of sorts if I’m in need of some pressure!
And that’s how I completely replaced my old regular blankets with ones that are weighted and/or super soft.
Autism tips: If you are self diagnosing, google autism (or another neurodivergency) signs/symptoms and write down the ones you experience.
Use the DSM5 and don’t forget to use the words “rare” or “less common” in your searches. This will help you realize how well you fit the actual profile and begin to understand yourself.
Autism tip: if you get overwhelmed create a sensory deprivation zone. This can help with emotional regulation and preventing meltdowns, as well as recovering from them.
Some simple ways to make one are; getting an indoor tent; putting a blanket, preferably one that blocks light, over a desk; getting a “bed tent” if you don’t mind it/like being your bed; putting a blanket over 2 chairs.
Items which can go in one are: comfort objects that are positive sensory stimuli, a blanket, a pillow/pillows, noise cancelling headphones, and some things to drink/eat.
I’m currently in the process of making mine and I’m putting in (so far) noise cancelling headphones, blanket, Gatorade, and maybe my squishmallow. If you’ve made one please share any tips or information (that you’re comfortable sharing)!
Autism tip: Keep a meltdown and sensory and eating/sleeping/activity journal.
Regardless of diagnosis status this will often help immensely when dealing with professionals and schools. It helps you understand yourself. And it helps you interpersonally as well.
This helped me immensely when I was being diagnosed. It validated me and I just learnt about my needs and also what types of accommodations I needed. If you feel insecure about your self-diagnosis sitting down and writing out what symptoms you have (going back as far as you remember like create a 4-6 category and a 7-9 category etc) from a diagnostic symptoms list can really help
Autism tip: If you have a device, download emergency chat, an app for written communication during meltdowns and stressful situations. This is especially helpful if you are semi-speaking or situationally non-speaking and don’t have other apps for communication.
It is also great because it allows you to just type removing the limitations of many pictographic aac apps and boards. It’s free and has a simple design which helps not overwhelm someone having a meltdown or sensory overload.
It’s honestly the best thing I’ve found because it allows you to create a custom message that will appear when the app is opened. Personally I have it installed on my phone and my parent’s phone. My younger sister who has adhd and severe anxiety also uses it when she gets upset/stressed as well.
This ^ is the icon. [image ID a screenshot of the app EmergencyChat. It is a green icon with 2 overlapping white text bubbles and a thick black boarder] end image ID
