59
submitted 3 months ago by washipaper@feddit.org to c/adhd@lemmy.world

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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 months ago

The thing that helped me the most with sleep, is simple, but not easy.

Don't think.

I know, I know. Asking someone who has ADHD to not think is like asking someone to not breathe. I get it. I struggled. It took me a long time to figure out how to do it for myself. I won't claim to have the answer on how to accomplish this, the process I use, I can't really explain.

The single most important realization I made on my journey to having the ability to not think, was this: thinking about not thinking, is a thought, and therefore counterproductive.

You have to not think. Do not try, do not think about not thinking, just don't think. When a thought occurs to you, recognise it, but don't engage the thought, the same way you would ignore someone yelling into the crowd as you walk down the street. You understand they're there, but you are going somewhere or doing something and don't want to get involved, so you just keep walking. Same idea. Just let the thought pass you by without engaging the idea.

It's simple, not easy.

[-] Evilschnuff@feddit.org 8 points 3 months ago
[-] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 months ago

For the most part it is. I've never formally looked into meditation and what is recommended, required, or involved in doing it.

I just went down a path for my own benefit, and I ended up here. It works for me. I don't consider it actual mediation, but IDK. That's just not something I've gone down a rabbit hole on.

this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2024
59 points (100.0% liked)

ADHD

9655 readers
16 users here now

A casual community for people with ADHD

Values:

Acceptance, Openness, Understanding, Equality, Reciprocity.

Rules:

Encouraged:

Relevant Lemmy communities:

Autism

ADHD Memes

Bipolar Disorder

Therapy

Mental Health

Neurodivergent Life Hacks

lemmy.world/c/adhd will happily promote other ND communities as long as said communities demonstrate that they share our values.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS