Burned Out on Summer: Why Summer Can Be Hell for Autistics
Image with a two-toned background divided horizontally in the center. Top portion is an off-white color, bottom portion is a pepto bismol pink. On the pink background a number of matches stand upright, their ends a bright red, unused. One match in the center is used up and burned out.
Are you or someone you know autistic? Have you noticed that summertime tends to be particularly challenging for many autistic folks and have you ever wondered why?
In today’s blog I will look at a number of patterns that have emerged in my practice as a result of working with autistic folks and being a neurodivergent practitioner myself. These patterns can explain why summertime is so challenging for autistics and why this season in particular tends to be the one where autistic burnout shows up in full force.
1. Season change
Being autistic means having a lower tolerance for unpredictability. Changes, no matter how small, can activate the fight or flight response in an autistic nervous system and send it into overdrive. If you or your autistic friend has ever responded to a change with stress, anxiety or confusion, you are familiar with this response.
This can range from an unexpected friend of a friend accompanying someone to a dinner you were planning to attend or to your favorite brand of cereal changing its formula. Even the most minor changes in the eyes of others can trigger a significant and overwhelming stress response.
Now image the change between seasons, and how stressful that may be for an autistic system. It is a pretty massive change, whether it also coincides with school ending and going on summer break, or simply having a lot more daylight in the day (read: more visual stimulation for a longer period of time).
2. Social expectations
Unlike other seasons, summer comes with a lot of expectations.
Particularly in places like the Pacific Northwest, where sun during the rest of the year may be scarce, there is a kind of collective mania about the return of the light. There is a palpable shift in the air and in the way people talk about plans, activities and travel. Summer is the time of go-go-go, where nearly every social interaction can at one point or another involve a question of what your plans for the summer may be or what activity you have been engaging in to take advantage of the weather.
For autistic who are already very sensitive to social expectations and pressures, the additional demands of summer prove too be way too much in many cases.
Being out and about in an overwhelming, overstimulating world heavily taxes an autistic system; there is less energy to expend. Enter external demands of the summer, and it is no wonder that so many autistics go through burnout during this season.
3. Increased masking
Naturally following the point above about social expectations, summer is a time for increased masking in autistics in order to compensate for all the extra social and societal demands.
Masking is extremely taxing for an autistic system. Imagine having to figure out social norms and expectations, track conversations when you have auditory delay or more literal thinking, all while battling constant excess stimuli that prevents you from focusing on anything people may actually be saying. Yet upholding the illusion of “getting it” is a requirement neurotypical world imposes and many autistics feel (rightfully so) like compliance is obligatory.
At the end of a day full of masking, there is exhaustion, decline in executive functioning, and a need for rest or recovery that once again proves to be extremely challenging to do summertime demands.
4. Sensory hell
For many autistics summer is a time of sensory nightmare.
Temperatures climbing up means even less ability to regulate temperature (a trait commonly associated with autistic systems), being hot more often and sweating excessively means having to deal with the ramifications of sensory input that has now increased manifold - be it wet armpits or the hellish sensation of sweat dripping down your skin. Not to mention lack of air conditioning in the PNW and the agony of trying to sleep in what feels like an oven.
The sun is brighter in the summer too. For folks sensitive to light this means dealing with an interrupted sleep schedule after being woken up at 4 AM from the abundance of light streaming through even the densest blackout curtains.
If the above-mentioned points resonate with you, know that you are not alone. Experiencing social pressure, increased masking and sensory hell can be incredibly isolating and crazymaking, particularly if no one else in your life understands the struggle.
But it doesn’t mean it isn’t real.
So what can we do in order to help ourselves survive this time period with a few spoons left? Rest and balance are going to be key in how we manage our time and demands.
There are likely going to unavoidable demands (weddings, family reunions, planned trips, etc.) and even then finding ways to lessen the demands within those obligations will create some breathing room.
This can look like:
Making alone time a priority: scheduling chunks of time to be in a stimulus-free, safe environment to de-stress and re-regulate. Even if it’s at a family wedding or on a trip to Bali, make sure you find an hour or two to withdraw and give your senses a break. Take out the noise-cancelling headphones, draw the curtains shut and let yourself be.
Lowering the demands. Do you have something on your to-do list that can be dropped? Drop it. Does laundry really need to be done, or can you wear things in the back of your closet that haven’t yet seen the light of day? Does cleaning really need to be the deep kind or can we maintain the most used areas with the amount of energy that feels manageable?
Discharging excess energy. Shaking, flapping hands, humming, dancing, lying on the ground, letting pets accompany you, etc. Find ways to move excess overstumulation out of your body.
Engaging in special interests. Finding time to dive deeper into things that make you really happy and scratch that brain itch. Special interests can be an absolute lifeline during the summer, and making sure you regularly find time to make your brain happy can help balance out the summertime demands.
Remember, summer will eventually end and with it will come the arrival of cooler temperatures and a significant drop in demands. Until then, know you are not alone and make sure to give yourself lots of permission to survive this season in ways that work the best for you.