It’s well-known in the ADHD field that sleep issues are a major co-existing condition that causes our ADHD symptoms to be worse. I’m regularly asking my clients about their sleep and exploring ways to help them get more and better rest. There is a pretty standard set of guidelines for supporting good sleep:
- Exercise vigorously during the day
- Avoid caffeine products after noon
- Create rituals that help you quiet down and transition toward sleep
- Go to bed at a regular time each night
- Keep the bedroom dark and cool
- Quiet or white noise helps (reduce stimulation)
- Have a good mattress
- If necessary, use natural sleep aids like melatonin, valerian, or Calms Forté
These guidelines are all well and good, but when you have ADHD, some of them feel pretty much impossible. We often are going so fast that we don’t notice or we ignore our natural sleep window signal telling us that we’re tired, so we keep working. This makes getting to bed at a regular time pretty difficult. Worse, our minds can be going to the point that even if we get into bed, we can’t relax or wind down. We forget to help our minds transition toward restfulness.
For me, sometimes my mind just won’t shut off, or I can get to sleep but can’t stay asleep. I may get up 3 or 4 times during the night, and I consider that a good night! I’m a very restless sleeper, and one of my cats takes advantage of that to ask me to play during the night. I figure at least one of us should be having fun at 3am.
Many ADDers need prescription sleep aids to get any rest at all. But even with a prescribed aid, you need to take it early enough that it won’t impact you the next day. There can be many factors causing our sleep challenges, and we must explore specifically what’s causing issues for you before we can develop a supportive strategy.
Clinical sleep researcher Matthew Edlund has concluded that the issue is larger than just sleep; he believes that many of us are “rest deprived”. He suggests that we explore how to get solid rest in four distinct dimensions:
- Physical rest which includes sleep and naps but also relaxing the body in other ways
- Mental rest which includes positive visualization, mental relaxation exercises, and even self-hypnosis
- Social rest which includes relaxing with friends and family, enjoying connectedness
- Spiritual rest which includes daily contemplation, prayer, and/or meditation
For ADDers, we may need to learn the value of rest before we’ll be open to incorporating it into our days.
Here’s a quick list of what science has found are the benefits of good sleep and rest:
- Gives our bodies time for cell regeneration and repair
- Strengthens our immune system
- Improves our mood
- Sets us up for optimal functioning of our bodies and minds
- Makes us less susceptible to accidents
- Sharpens our powers of attention and alertness
- Lowers our risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity
- Supports memory consolidation
- Is critical for creative thinking
Thomas Edison and Leonardo da Vinci, as well as many other geniuses, practiced regular napping to support their creative processes. A nap of 20 to 30 minutes heightens alertness, enhances performance, and boosts creative problem-solving skills. Researcher Sara Mednick has found that “Learning after a nap is equal to learning after a full night of sleep.” As a matter of fact, she’s written an interesting book titled Take a Nap! Change Your Life.
I have long thought that, for some ADDers, we would be far better served to develop a work pattern where we work in spurts then nap or rest then awake naturally refreshed and go into another round of work. But this would only work for those who have identified their passionate purpose and are drawn to their work as play. I always hope that we can find each client’s passionate work-which-feels-like-play-for-them, and once we do, then identifying their natural work cycle is a very worthwhile endeavor.
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I liked the info about sleep.