Have you checked out the first article in our ADHD & Sleep series? Take a look at ADHD & Sleep - Common Sleep Challenges Experienced By People with ADHD. 

So, we’re all on the same page: Sleep really matters, and ADHD has a significant impact on the quality and quantity of sleep that you get. Now, let’s take a look at some strategies that can help improve your sleep routines. 

Let’s start with some lifestyle recommendations. These are the sleep habits that are good for everyone, neurotypical and neurodiverse alike. 

• Have a regular sleep schedule. This means getting into and out of bed around the same time every day. Yes, even on the weekend and while on vacation!

• Limit caffeine after 12pm. Ideally, “limit” would mean “none” for most people. Caffeine has about a six hour half-life. This means that half of the caffeine from your 3pm coffee is still in your body at 9pm, and a quarter of the caffeine is still pulsing through you at 3am.

• Keep naps to less than 30 minutes at any point in the day, and avoid napping at all after 4pm. Feeling sleepy after work? Move your body, get outdoors, spend time with a friend or family member. Napping late in the day makes getting both a good quantity and high quality sleep at night extremely difficult. 

• Avoid particularly sticky or stimulating activities before bed. What counts as “sticky” is different for each person, so think of it as any activity where time goes by in a flash, it’s hard to break focus/stop the activity after a set period of time, or requires lots of set-up to get immersed in - these are activities that will be hard to stop at bedtime. 

• Have a solid exercise or physical activity routine. Exercise helps modulate sleep, and many studies have shown that those who exercise regularly tend to have higher sleep quality, and tend to struggle less with falling asleep and staying asleep. 

Now, for the ADHD-specific sleep tips! These suggestions take into consideration the challenges people with ADHD are more likely to struggle with. 

• Make a commitment to value sleep, and make it an ongoing practice to remind yourself of the benefits that a solid sleep routine has on your life. By noticing the positive changes in your life that come with better sleep habits, the likelihood of continuing to prioritize sleep is increased. Not guaranteed, but much more likely - we’re shooting for improvement, not perfection here. 

• Create and stick to a set bedtime. Create a “hard stop” time for yourself that you adhere to nightly…even if the kitchen hasn’t been cleaned up, even if you haven’t finished the last of the work you’d planned to finish after hours, and even if there’s a social gathering that you’d prefer to stay late at. There will always be something that feels more interesting, urgent, or relevant than getting to bed on time. Avoid the trap of de-prioritizing your bedtime. 

• Avoid sleep cycle shifts. This one goes hand-in-hand with creating and sticking to a set bedtime. 

• Sort out the inefficiencies earlier in the day that impact the evening routine. Very busy evenings are often a result of inefficient time management earlier in the day. 

• Consider getting into bed at the same time as your partner. If they have a great sleep routine, you can benefit from having their consistency. If they don’t, the two of you can work on prioritizing good sleep habits together. 

• Engage in relaxation or mindfulness routines leading up to bedtime, or even once you are in bed. This doesn’t need to look like traditional meditation. Consider alternatives that feel relaxing for you. Lots of people love to listen to children’s audiobooks as quiet background noise as they fall asleep. 

• Regardless of what happened yesterday, focus on making choices that prioritize sleep today. Instead of getting stuck in a pattern, make room for today to be better. 

Remember, we’re striving for improvement here. Small changes, sustained over time, can have a really significant impact on both quantity and quality of sleep. Self care, including getting more and better sleep, is an ongoing process. Focusing on sleep quantity first builds great habits; if you’re still finding yourself exhausted when you’re getting enough sleep, then focusing on sleep quality with your healthcare provider is the next step. 

To take a deeper dive into exploring and resolving your sleep challenges, consider working with a counsellor to help with ADHD sleep problems. A therapist can help you look at the root causes of your sleep issues, explore your priorities and what it takes to meet your goals, build systems that support the sleep routines that will benefit you, work on limit setting with children, partners, friends and work (and yourself!) to support good sleep routines, and understand and reduce anxiety that contributes to sleep disruption. 

At Gravitate Counselling Inc., we offer counselling for ADHD to clients in Victoria, BC, across Vancouver Island, and throughout BC. Many of our Registered Clinical Counsellors have extensive experience and training helping clients with ADHD improve their lives. Our Counselling Student Interns offer low cost counselling and can help with managing ADHD too.

Book a Matching Appointment with our Clinical Director today - she’ll help you choose from our team of ADHD counsellors offering in person therapy in Victoria, BC and Duncan, BC, and virtual counselling across BC. You can also check out the profiles of our ADHD Counsellors below.