I Couldn't Sleep At All Last Night!

I don't remember the last time I woke up in the morning and felt that I had slept well.  I don't know that it has ever happened.

My mother used to tell me that I slept less as an infant than any of her children.  I would bet that I sleep less as an adult than any of my sisters.

Insomnia is a part of many ADHDer's lives.  For myself and many others it is a battle fought nightly.  Exhaustion isn't sufficient to overcome it, drugs are often ineffective against it.  This is not helpful.

ADHDers tend to have "busy brains" that refuse to respect the need to re-charge or rest.  We lay down to sleep and our brains go into overdrive. It is like being bombarded by a hundred televisions- each set to a different channel.

If you tend to anxiety, the channels are all tuned to the things that make you anxious.  Have OCD?  Those channels are tuned to your triggers.  Depressed?  Your channels attack like a thousand lions.

Anyone wonder why we have insomnia?

I don't have any good information on this one.  I've tried any number of things- none that worked reliably.

What I can say is that if you have ADHD, you aren't alone in this.

In some ways, the harder challenge of chronic insomnia is the way people in your world deal with it.  People who have never dealt with constant insomnia don't understand why you simply don't go to sleep.  They see you exhausted and wonder why you don't take a nap.  Worse, they see you nodding off and think you irresponsible for not getting a full night's sleep.

*sigh*

I don't know foolproof ways to sleep, but I do know that it isn't your fault.  If you are like me, you spend a lot of time beating yourself up for not sleeping, failing to manage something that most people take pretty much for granted.

It's not your fault.  It's how you are wired.

Some things that have been helpful for me include having a cup of coffee before bed, making sure that I have a sound source in the bedroom- TV, an MP3 player, white noise, and structure.  Structure is going to bed every night at the same time.

That said, if you find yourself laying in bed for more than 20 minutes, get up.  Find another place to be.  Read the dictionary- and not online.  I'm not kidding.

I survived school by being willing to read the dictionary.  My Grandfather learned English by reading the dictionary.  Fortunately, it tends to shut down the bust in your brain and will let you sleep.

Do I have answers?  If I did, I wouldn't be going broke trying to cover up the circles under my eyes.