Hey everyone,
I still was rather recently diagnosed late in life. Some very helpful people already helped me on another topic, so I wanted to come to you all again:
I have had sleep issues for ages. I didn’t get why, I tried pretty much all the neurotypical advice I was given my whole life or learned about. Sadly I am among the many that still have loads of sleep troubles. Not gonna lie, they broke my spirit more often than I could recount.
I have the full party going:
- Trouble falling asleep due to a few factors (among others: Negative thought spirals, sponanious ideas and impulse control to keep them in check, but mostly that - with hunger, thirst or pain - I just don’t notice my own needs.
- Trouble sleeping longer than (3-4 h) and not being able to fall back asleep
- As consequences of the above I am usually not rested at all. Sometimes I just pass out after work, which makes things harder later at bed time.
As I learned, our bodies should usually sleep at night and our brain chemistry is built for that (duh). But sometimes with ADHD our whole bodily clock is just being off by a lot. That’s apparently why some of us sleep from late at night till late in the morning. Per se fair enough, but not super healthy. And I personally couldn’t find a job that starts at 12 a.m…
Also neurotypical people are apparently not supposed to be bored out of their mind, trying to fall asleep. Supposedly they can lie down, relax their thoughts and can be asleep between 10-20 minutes. My brain for once won’t stop being flooded with thoughts, sensory inputs and such. Those 10-20 are more like 1-2 for me and only with a 25% chance I sleep more than 4 hours.
The only successes I had so far falling asleep when I wanted to, was with prescription meds (with serious health risk attached). The othet thing that works sometimes is, if I can focus, to go on mental adventures, which ideally keep me occupied till I doze off. And the worst thing that works is just having to sleep due to sheer exhaustion.
When we wakes up, apparently many of us can also struggle to fall back asleep. At least I know, wrong bad thought and that was it for the night.
I didn’t know I had ADHD and didn’t really know how it affects every part of me. Therefore i coulnd’t treat my issues properly either. I am still learning lot, but quality adult ADHD resources suck, to be frank. Kinda sad how we are aware ADHD is rough in the mildest cases and you still have to filter all the pseudoscience and bullshit out, just for breadcrumbs of advice.
I must have tried basically all things of the neurotypical advice, I thought could help me. I think especially sleep hygenie is something all people can work on regularly, also us with our ADHD. Improving sleep hygiene might take many forms with ADHD., though. How does yours look?
I’d kindly ask everyone with some knowledge or personal advice to chip in. That’s if and how you found ways to make it easier to sleep for youself. Would you share your stories, so we might all learn more?
Not all tools are for everyone, as we know. But I will give everything here a fair shake and your experiences can be very valuable to me and others too.
I don’t mind starting with basics, mine are probably shoddy. If someone more knowledge or experienced could share their wisdom and get me pointed in the right direction. A bit of advice on where to start and maybe some resources would be appreciated greatly. I feel I fucked up so much treating the comorbid problems of my ADHD, I might have to start from scratch here with “how to human”. I probably learned and adapted many things, which might make my sleep troubles even worse and gotta unlearn some.
Any and all comments are much appreciated, thank you.
Lifetime chronically poor sleeper here - Look at Andrew Huberman for advice.
Natural supplements: magnesium threonate, glycine, l-theanine, apigenin. No melatonin.
Prescription: 50mg Trazadone when things are really bad. Dogs can easily get this drug prescribed :)
Hygiene: regular sleep time. No phones in bed. Cold room. Improved bedding. If you can’t sleep or wake up in the middle of the night, get out of bed and do -something- that isn’t on a screen for a few minutes. No water near bedtime. No caffeine after noon. Try a white noise machine and a high quality eye mask such Manta.
10 minutes of sunlight immediately after waking. View the sky before the sun sets. Enable blue light filters using something like Twilight, specially for evening hours. Avoid overhead lights at night and, if possible, at night switch to lights that are lower than your head.
Regular meditation and breathing exercises. No alcohol within 4 hours of sleep. Don’t eat any food near bed time.
Get a sleep tracker such as Oura to provide metrics and data on the efficacy of these various methods and to see how your body reacts to timing of stuff like meals, alcohol, supplements, etc.
NEVER TAKE MELATONIN! DON’T LISTEN TO A SOUL ON THAT SHIT! DON’T DO IT, IT IS A SLEEP KILLER!!!
*This person isn’t advocating it but I have by word of mouth found it and by word of “mouth” I shall spread that it’s total bullshit!
As someone who has an extremely severe chronic sleep disorder, this is not helpful advice. The helpful advice is that what you typically see in the pharmacy is way more than an appropriate dosage, and most people don’t take it at the appropriate timing.
0.3-0.6 mg (or 300mcg-600mcg) is all you need, more than that can be detrimental. And you should be taking it hours in advance of when you hope to sleep. When I was seeing an insomnia profesional I was told 3 hours in advance of intended sleep onset. I now know the correct timing for my circadian rhythm disorder is 5-6 hours before you’re going to try and fall asleep. I don’t know if 3 hours was just incorrect for my diagnosis, or if that number is outdated, and no longer the consensus for sleep issues broadly, I’d have to look at the available literature.
Exogenous melatonin (taking it as a supplement, as opposed to the melatonin your body naturally produces. Melatonin is a hormone) plays an important role in treatment of certain sleep disorders
Its not normally necessary and its usually way over the necessary dosage, 1/3 mg (~0.3mg). Better served by bright light in the morning and dim amber at night
Wakeup: bright light box or sun
Evening (after 6): dimmed, amber-red lights
Smart lights or anything like Phillips Hue colored bulbs are a game changer for sleep