Getting Rest with ADHD

Having ADHD is exhausting. It’s not just insomnia we have to battle with but a constant restlessness in us.

It took me 25 years to realize ADHD isn’t just for hyperactive kids. It affects adults too, especially females, but most of us go with our lives with inattentive ADHD undetected. From the outside, it seems that I am an average adult that has my life together.

Sure, just a bit of a klutz and a daydreamer.

Misplacing keys, taking 3 trips to the bathroom cause I kept forgetting something to bring in and zoning out in conversations and can remember details or follow instructions well.

Other people don’t see the constant ongoing inner conversation in my brain or how my brain gets overwhelmed at long discussions to the point it goes overloaded and caves into helplessness. And, when it’s time for bed, that would be the time my brain goes wild with ideas and possibilities of business ventures or fear and overthinking of an action taken in the afternoon.

With 2022 rolling in, here’s my self resolution to follow the routine that I gathered over the past few months that seemed to help with my restlessness.

Writing things down, no matter how small.

Thoughts and questions constantly popped up at the most inconvenient time.

“Did I lock my doors?” As I continued staring at my colleague, discussing a work problem at hand.

For most people, they can put their thoughts on hold, or in a better term, prioritize. But, personally, my brain decides to take on everything simultaneously. Tracing back my memories to when I left the house but never get to that moment because I am also trying to solve the issue that has been handed down to me.

By jotting tasks down, somehow, it manually forced my brain to focus one problem at a time and helped to declutter my brain.

Overlapping thoughts with a routine dream

To take control over the infiltrating thoughts just right before bed, I overlapped those thoughts with a soothing dream. It’s a place of comfort where I could roam freely in it. It’s almost as if I have a playlist of dreams that I could alternate between days that somehow calms me down to a doze.

Rotating the bed

Waking up tired was pretty common for me. For months, I slept on the same side of the same bed that came with the rental room. It wasn’t surprising that it’s begun to sink. I took on a good financial tip from a friend to rotate the bed from time to time to even out the pressure on the bed. And, I am beginning to realize the missing presence of a familiar sore on my back and shoulder.

Having a night & morning routine with just a curtain

It’s funny how a minor routine action helps me. My room used to be a cave, as I have kept it dark for most of the time as that was comfy to me. Lately, I have been gotten into the habit of pulling the curtains when night falls and pulling them open in the morning.

The curtains helped to be a physical switch of telling myself to slow down for the night, and the morning sun streaming in helped to refresh the tiredness that I often get from waking up in the morning.

Final take

And, that sums the little habits that I would like to enforce as my 2022 sleep resolution. While it may look simple, I know for a fact that my ADHD self will have difficulty following through on commitments. But, nothing comes without effort.

Oh, and a bit more self-love and self-care in 2022. How can I rest if I'm constantly berating myself?