Lots of sleepless ADHDers out there by the sounds of it! I admit that I sometimes have trouble falling asleep myself. I’m going to give you MY list of dos and don’ts as well a link to an article about getting better rest at night.
Don’ts:
INCONSISTENCY WITH BEDTIME: Go to bed at a set time – not too early, not too late. If I stay up too late, I miss my window for a good night of sleep. When I let myself get too tired, I lack the power to ignore and set aside my thoughts.
NAPS: If I take even a quick power nap, I’m usually too energetic to feel compelled to go to bed and the cycle of the 3am bedtime continues. The best thing for me is to make sure I just stay awake and get to bed a bit earlier.
LATE EATING: What I battle the most is eating too late. When we eat late our bodies are busy digesting while we sleep. Those days you wake up tired, but slept all night, you might want to see when and what you ate the night before.
Do’s
GOOD MATTRESS: Make sure you have a good mattress. Good ones are costly but yet worth every penny and really help with getting quality sleep. When you figure that a person spends over 2500 hours a year in bed, investing the right mattress is pretty important.
AMBIENT NOISE: The fan is key for me. I need ambient noise in the room to soothe my mind. Find what works for you. It might be music, or guided meditation on CD or wind chimes or something. My PR manager who has ADHD as well, says that the sound of a dog cleaning itself puts her to sleep (LOL) just kidding!
EXERCISE: Get your body nice and tired. If you have a child who struggles with sleep then perhaps you’re not wearing them out enough. Too many kids spend more time watching TV and playing video games than running around – get them off the couch!
READING: Reading for most ADHD people is a challenge. Don’t know about you, but nothing puts me to sleep faster than reading material about ADHD Meds and treatments. All that medical speak. 😀 Don’t pick up something you know you’ll get sucked into. Save those Eclipse books for another time.
Got suggestions of your own? Please share on my Facebook page.
And here is that LINK!