Hey - It’s Michael.
Spent my friday with an all-in 2h dance session followed by crossfit. Fully body soreness! Enjoy the newsletter!
The Situation
You watched some late night movie or went out with friends and came home way too hyped. Had too big of a dinner or spent 2h scrolling in bed. After a few hours you woke up and waves of thoughts came crashing down on you.
Whatever it was that didn’t let you sleep well last night, today you pay the price. The old bad habit urges come back, you race around and can’t grasp a clear thought. You feel terrible and nothing seems to help.
Accept your ADHD Brain
Lack of sleep worsens ADHD symptoms. ¹
When you sleep too little, you are going to:
make more inattention errors
react more impulsively
worsen in executive functioning
have a hard time to emotionally regulate
So in essence, your day is going to get a lot worse than it has to be.
The System
Change your mindset about sleep.
I have this sentence burned in my head: “Nothing is more important than my sleep”. It pops up when people want me to get up early or when I’m planning my travels. It’s the reason why I (mostly) refuse to do morning meetings or schedule anything before noon.
Principle:
Protect your sleep, no matter what.
It really is the one of the simplest and most effective ways to improve your life.
In Practice
One of the my favorite books on the topic is “Why We Sleep” by Matther Walker. You’ll find a lot of general recommendations like:
Keep sleeping schedule consistent
Avoid screens before bed
Avoid heavy exercise or food before sleep
Keep the room dark, cool & quiet
Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol before bedtime
Get morning daylight and don’t nap too late
For ADHDers, following those rules is tricky, because your executive function is weakest when you’re tired at night.
So it pays to design a wind down /bed time routine that works for you & set up your bedroom only for sleep (and reading books).
I’ve found that the better my winding down routine, the better I sleep. It includes:
Tidying up my environment
Preparing the next day (schedule, task list & clothes..)
Stretching
Journalling
Hot shower & body care
Reading (ideally with blue light glasses)
Setting up your bedroom for sleep and nothing else is very effective. Ditch the TV, don’t take your laptop or phone in. The less physical distraction the better. A book, a physical alarm clock, an eye-mask & earplugs (and condoms) is probably all you need.
And then of course there’s the issue of going home to sleep in the first place. I literally have 4 phone alarms around 10pm that ask me whether what I’m doing is more important than my sleep.
More often than not, it helps to leave mediocre parties & go to sleep instead. And surprise, everytime I do, I feel great the next day.
A quote to ponder on:
“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” - Ovid
See you next week - Michael
Um YH, Hong SC, Jeong JH. Sleep deprivation and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. 2017 Mar;15(1):9-18. doi: 10.9758/cpn.2017.15.1.9. PMID: 28231695.