its really weird to see all these articles about how people who have ADHD have sleeping problems but the issue I have is that if you look at it as a matter of your circadian rythym being out of sync? of COURSE you’re not going to be able to sleep. we don’t say people who can’t fall asleep at 4 pm and sleep 8 hours have insomnia, because that’s not a normally agreed upon time to sleep and its not your bodies time to sleep. if you tell someone to go to bed at 10 and they can’t sleep till 3 am sometimes in just not insomnia. people with ADHD are often wired to sleep from 4 am to 12 pm ish because of the delayed onset of melatonin but if you let us go to bed at the time we need? most of us actually sleep pretty well and consistently.
wAIT THIS IS AN ACTUAL THING THAT EXISTS
“For most adults the onset of melatonin is around 9.30 pm; in ADHD children compared to controls this occurs at least 45 minutes later, and in adults with ADHD even 90 minutes (van der Heijden ea, 2005; van Veen ea 2010). After melatonin onset, it normally takes 2 hours to fall asleep, but in adults with ADHD it takes at least 3 hours (Bijlenga et al, 2013).”
Look at me awake at 1:47 am and reblogging this post.
So I’m actually trained in therapy for addressing insomnia and one of the things we learned is that a good chunk of sleep problems are societal disorders – as in they WOULDN’T EXIST as problems if society didn’t assume everyone was on the same circadian rhythm and that being up and working 9-5 was mandatory/normal. Blew my mind and made so much sense. You are not the problem, society is literally the problem.
Hilariously enough my ADHD ass went to bed at precisely 4am last night and woke up at precisely 12pm today, without an alarm clock.
I generally get an uninterrupted 8 hours no matter what schedule I’m on, but it varies. Under some circumstances I can get wayyyy more sleep even.
What I’ve mostly noticed is that I’m most productive late at night, let’s say from 11 or midnight onward. I’m still trying to figure out whether that’s because it’s how my brain is wired, or because it’s a mental thing – “oh shit I haven’t been productive at all today and now I’m supposed to go to bed. ugh. let me see what I can squeeze in before then.”
The other time I’m most productive is first thing in the morning. I think it’s because then I haven’t filled up my brain with other matters yet. Listening to podcasts or news when I’m making breakfast or showering is therefore detrimental to my productivity. Also, the earlier, the less likely I’ll be exhausted from decision-making/general life/anxiety.
Anyway it’s now 1pm and I should probably get out of bed and work instead of filling up my brain with Tumblr. Especially since Boyfriend is coming over for the weekend soon so my productivity is likely to take a tumble.
(yes yes this went in a very different direction than insomnia but honestly it’s an ADHD-themed post, I don’t feel like I even need to justify myself)
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Gay Hell 