| Falling Asleep - An ADD Nightmare | | | | avoidthis and wind down, I find it best to adhere to a |
| By ADD Coach Jennifer Koretsky | | | | routine. Ihave to schedule my activities for the evening, |
| © Copyright 2003 | | | | and notallow myself to get caught up in anything that I |
| Like many "night people," I have a hard time waking up | | | | findengaging, like emailing, talking on the phone, or |
| inthe morning, but I have an even harder time falling | | | | evenpicking up an interesting book. |
| asleepat night. When I spoke to my doctor about this | | | | When scheduling your evenings and developing a |
| problem, sheoffered me a very simple solution: take | | | | routine,whether it is for yourself or your child, identify |
| three hours to | | | | the oneor two things that usually provide the most |
| "wind down" before bed. Don't do anything stimulating | | | | stimulation andeliminate them from the pre-bedtime |
| inthe evening that will engage your brain. Relax, unwind, | | | | hours. In my ownroutine, I begin my wind down by |
| andyou'll find yourself falling asleep much easier at | | | | shutting off my computerright after dinner. This |
| night. | | | | prevents me from getting caught upin email, research, |
| Sounds simple, right? Not when you have ADD! | | | | or any other number of interestingthings that the |
| People with ADD (also known as Attention | | | | Internet has to offer. |
| Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD) often | | | | The next thing to consider when planning your routine |
| findthemselves chronically tired during the day, but | | | | is toschedule in "down time" for some serious relaxing. |
| unable tosleep at night. This can be true for adults and | | | | For me,this can mean taking 15 minutes to meditate, |
| kids alike. | | | | going for awalk with my dog, or even just sitting in my |
| Some of us seem to have our own internal schedule - | | | | favorite chairand breathing deeply. Whatever it is, I do it |
| a bodyand mind that want to sleep all day and be | | | | alone. |
| productive atnight. Unfortunately, most of the world | | | | And finally, set up a "signal" that will let your body |
| doesn't work thisway. Many people with ADD have a | | | | knowit's time to start shutting down. The very last thing |
| schedule to conform to, andfind themselves suffering | | | | I doat night is brush my teeth. This is my signal to my |
| with sleepless nights and sluggishdays. | | | | body andmind that the day is now over and it is time |
| But if we have a possible solution - don't do | | | | to rest. Youmay choose to do some light reading, tuck |
| anythingstimulating three hours before bed - then why | | | | in the kids, ormake your lunch for tomorrow - what it is |
| do we stillhave a problem? I know that if I can manage | | | | doesn't matter, aslong as it's the same small task |
| to spend arelaxing evening free from stimulation, I have | | | | repeated every night. |
| a much easiertime both falling asleep and sleeping | | | | Once you have developed your schedule, make it a |
| soundly. Unfortunately,relaxing and winding down in the | | | | routine. |
| evening isnot as easy as it seems. Two main | | | | People with ADD often work well with this kind of |
| symptoms of ADD arehyperactivity (which can be | | | | structure. |
| physical and/or mental) andimpulsiveness. These are | | | | You can change the activities you plan for each night, |
| two things that constantly temptthe brain to get active. | | | | aslong as you stick to the basics. Get your body and |
| Additionally, once a task orproject is picked up, people | | | | mind usedto winding down in the evenings, and you |
| with ADD have the potential to | | | | may just findyourself falling asleep easier at night! |
| "hyperfocus" on it and lose track of time. In order to | | | | |