15 Hacks When You Cannot Fall Asleep
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Sleep doesn’t often come easily when you have ADHD. Starting in puberty (around the age of 12), many people experience difficulties falling asleep, staying asleep or they wake up too early and feel chronically exhausted.
Studies estimate that up to 70 percent of children and adolescents (and 80 percent of adults) with ADHD have problems with sleep for various reasons, such as too much energy before bedtime, poor sleep hygiene or too many thoughts racing through their head. And if insomnia or nightmares come into play we have a bad mix of sleep problems that usually don’t decrease but increase with age.
Getting enough sleep is important for anyone – neurodivergent or neurotypical – to function properly during the day. When we are sleep-deprived and don’t get 8-10 hours of sleep as a teen (or 7-9 hours of sleep as an adult), we have trouble focusing on our daily tasks.
We tend to forget things, are more prone to accidents and have more mood swings. Our performance in school or university is poorer and our grades lower. And if we don’t get a good-night rest over a long period of time, we might develop an anxiety disorder, obesity or even depression.
For people who are neurodivergent and whose brains are wired differently, sleep is especially vital in managing their ADHD symptoms and avoiding a vicious cycle: When our ADHD keeps us up at night, our executive function skills tend to be poorer than normal, and we are more prone to impulsivity, poor time management or hyperactivity. Even our medications might work less well.
Since symptoms vary considerably among people with ADHD, it is difficult to come up with a generic explanation for why people have trouble sleeping. Some scientists believe our circadian rhythm – which dictates when we wake up, feel tired or alert – is delayed due to a delayed release of melatonin.
When we have ADHD, the internal clock of our body may not match everyone else’s clock around us. We may experience delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS) when our sleep-wake cycle is off by two hours or more which makes it difficult for us to function in life.
What can you do about it?
Since being chronically sleep-deprived is no fun and can hold us back, tackling the problem and finding a viable solution is important. The first step you can take toward improving your sleep is to work on a good bedtime routine. Here are fifteen things you can do to make sleep less elusive:
1. Go to bed at the approximately same time every day – even on the weekends. As mentioned above, you need to get 8-10 hours of sleep as a teenager and 7-9 hours as an adult. Depending on when you need to get up in the morning, count back to the latest time you need to go to bed in order to get the recommended hours. If you want, give yourself some leeway of 30 minutes or so, so you have enough time to fall asleep and don’t feel stressed out about it.
2. Getting to sleep at the same time at night might also limit the number of distractions you are exposed to. You may get stuck scrolling through Facebook, finishing up an email or watching your favorite Netflix show. Make sure you are setting a timer to remind you to stop what you are doing and start your bedtime routine.
3. Make your bedroom as dark as possible. Research has shown that light can tell your body it is daytime instead of nighttime. Use black-out curtains and remove all sources of light such as alarm clocks or light from electronic devices.
4. Keep your room at a slightly cool temperature. If your room is too warm, open a window or switch on a fan. Your body needs to cool down in order to fall asleep. If it’s too warm, sleep might prove elusive.
5. If you are sensitive to noise, use earplugs or a white-noise machine. (My Dohm has worked wonders for me.)
6. Don’t use any electronic devices an hour before you go to sleep. Looking at screens might be too stimulating, and the light they emit can mess with your sleep cycle and make falling asleep even more difficult. I personally have no problems with screens before bedtime – so you need to experiment.
7. Read or listen to an audio book. Reading has a calming effect on your brain and might help you relax. Calming music might be quite helpful as well.
8. Take a warm bath and relax in the bathtub.
9. Meditate. There are many apps that have specific meditations focused on sleep. I really enjoy Headspace.
10. Try out some yoga poses or Yoga Nidra. Yoga Nidra has helped me in the past when I couldn’t fall asleep because my thoughts were racing through my head.
11. Experiment with exercising in general. Getting enough exercise during the day might help you fall asleep at night. Some people can even take a late gym class and sleep like a rock. I tend to feel overly tired after a late work-out to the point where I am too restless to fall sleep. So for me, I’d rather take a walk before bed than engage in more strenuous exercising.
12. Valerian is another option you might want to try. For less severe sleep problems I have used valerian many times and have been quite happy with the results. You can get it in health food stores like Whole Foods and it can be taken in capsules or as a tincture.
13. Avoid sugar, caffeine or alcohol close to bedtime. Some people cannot have coffee, black tea or chocolate after lunchtime. Again, experiment. You know your body best and can gauge what affects you negatively.
14. Avoid heated discussions or stressful conversations right before bed.
15. If you are unable to calm your thoughts, do a brain dump and write things down on a piece of paper. That way, you can clear your head and know that all your thoughts and ideas will still be around on that paper come next morning.
You can start making gradual changes and find out what works for you. Everyone is different and not all suggestions will be for you. You might find your sleep problems may vary depending on the day and the activities you undertake.
If you have severe sleep problems or if none of the above helps, you might want to talk to your physician and get professional advice.
A common solution is to use medication to fall asleep more easily. If you are taking stimulant medication, you may want to talk to your doctor about re-adjusting your medication to help you sleep. Some people take a full dosage 30 to 45 minutes before bed and find it extremely helpful. But it might also have the opposite effect on you if you are dealing with coexisting conditions like anxiety or depression. Your doctor can help you find the best solution for you.
Another option is to take melatonin before you go to sleep. Melatonin is a sleep hormone related to your circadian rhythm. Like stimulant medication, it shouldn’t be taken without consulting your GP. Melatonin is a dietary supplement in the US and considered very safe with very few side-effects. Yet, some people say that no long-term studies of melatonin have been conducted which means that it is not clear what the long-term effects of taking melatonin on a regular basis are.
William Dodson, MD, recommends 1 mg – less than most of the dosages of capsules sold over the counter, so you might need to be careful which product you purchase. You also need to take melatonin for a few days until you might experience a positive response to your sleep problem.
A more expensive solution could be light therapy which you can do from home with a light therapy box. Light therapy tries to regulate your circadian cycle by exposing you to artificial light at the right times. All you need to do is sit in front of a light therapy box for a certain time each day and wait for your circadian rhythm to reset itself – which ideally will make you fall asleep more easily and wake up more refreshed.
As I said, experiment with the above – and if nothing works consult a specialist. And remember that you don’t have to implement everything at once. Start with one or two items you like best and gradually introduce more change. If you revert back to your old habits, cut yourself some slack and try again.
Good night and sleep tight!
