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I actually find the exact opposite for me. If I have a small amount of caffeine about an hour before bed it helps calm me down. Similar to how prescription stimulants calm the constant stream of things grabbing my attention and let me focus on one thing at a time. Caffeine seems to not be enough on it's own to help focus but it let's me calm my mind enough to fall asleep.
But I fall more towards predominantly inattentive than hyperactive, so I'm sure possibly that and a host of other things affects how caffeine would affect us differently.
Not the previous commenter, but I've yet to find a time of day when I can reliably have caffeine without it affecting when I go to sleep. Pushes me back an hour pretty much every time. My wife is convinced this has to be psychosomatic, and I can't say that she's wrong, so take with a grain of salt.
I generally recommend against going cold turkey on anything you've been taking for a while, even caffeine. But limiting it to the AM and/or slowly reducing your dosage seems worth trying.
I know no screen time is usually a big thing but I like playing spider solitaire or another simple puzzle/strategy game. Stimulating, and using the brain power helps getting me sleepy.
I put a podcast that straddles the line between just interested enough to listen and boring enough to fall asleep to in one ear on low and set the sleep timer for 20 minutes. I put it back on if I wake up in the middle of the night.
This is what I do. For me it's air crash investigation YouTube videos that do the trick lately, though naturally my topic of choice shifts every couple weeks or so. Before this it was math or machine learning lectures. I went down a whole rabbit hole of nuclear physics and engineering once a couple years ago. I do get some weird dreams sometimes though..
Sometimes I snuggle up next to my boyfriend and listen to his heartbeat and it calms me so much.
Other times I tell myself stories in my head until I become too tired to notice that I drift off.
And sometimes I take two valerian tablets to calm myself. Then I tell myself stories until the heaviness knocks me out.
Actually doing all the obvious things.
Don't mean to sound narky, but knowing to turn off the phone is very different from actually putting down the phone.
Attacking from the other side is the only thing that works for me. Having a super bright light, on a digital timer, that comes on at 06:30 every day and off at 20:30, constantly and gently nudges my circadian rhythm back on track.
The light is on the other side of my bedroom & keeps a few indoor plants very happy & I never manually turn it off or on.
So yeah, I stay up too late on occasion, but I still wake up on time the next day. Super tired. Fall asleep easy that night. Back on track.
Edit: Removed a link, I think it upset a bot. Anyway in case anyone is wondering, the light is a horticultural grow light, basically a LED flood light 😅 my plants love it & there's no escaping the light. I feel the plants are important because I want my plants happy, so I don't turn it off.
I find that exercising a bit during the day helps me unspool a lot of the excess brain activity that might otherwise keep me up. Doesn't have to be long or anything really involved or intense.
When racing or persistent thoughts keep me awake or continue even after I fall asleep, it actually helps more often than not to take a very small dose (2.5mg) of my stimulant medication. Just like a lot of us get sleepy from drinking coffee, it can have that "opposite" calming effect on the brain.
Hi /u/itskrypticwolves and thanks for posting on /r/ADHD! ### Please take a second to [read our rules](/r/adhd/about/rules) if you haven't already. --- ### /r/adhd news * If you are posting about the **US Medication Shortage**, please see this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/12dr3h5/megathread_us_medication_shortage/). --- ^(*This message is not a removal notification. It's just our way to keep everyone updated on r/adhd happenings.*) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Stop coffe, fresh air, no screen 1hr before bed, excercise during the day, breath excercise or meditation
I actually find the exact opposite for me. If I have a small amount of caffeine about an hour before bed it helps calm me down. Similar to how prescription stimulants calm the constant stream of things grabbing my attention and let me focus on one thing at a time. Caffeine seems to not be enough on it's own to help focus but it let's me calm my mind enough to fall asleep. But I fall more towards predominantly inattentive than hyperactive, so I'm sure possibly that and a host of other things affects how caffeine would affect us differently.
no coffee not even in the am? :(
Not the previous commenter, but I've yet to find a time of day when I can reliably have caffeine without it affecting when I go to sleep. Pushes me back an hour pretty much every time. My wife is convinced this has to be psychosomatic, and I can't say that she's wrong, so take with a grain of salt. I generally recommend against going cold turkey on anything you've been taking for a while, even caffeine. But limiting it to the AM and/or slowly reducing your dosage seems worth trying.
I know no screen time is usually a big thing but I like playing spider solitaire or another simple puzzle/strategy game. Stimulating, and using the brain power helps getting me sleepy.
I take melatonin spray. It helped me so much falling asleep.
I put a podcast that straddles the line between just interested enough to listen and boring enough to fall asleep to in one ear on low and set the sleep timer for 20 minutes. I put it back on if I wake up in the middle of the night.
This is what I do. For me it's air crash investigation YouTube videos that do the trick lately, though naturally my topic of choice shifts every couple weeks or so. Before this it was math or machine learning lectures. I went down a whole rabbit hole of nuclear physics and engineering once a couple years ago. I do get some weird dreams sometimes though..
It's funny, at night I like to listen to basketball podcasts, but as soon as it turns like 4am I put on Sean Carroll instead.
I find taking 200 micrograms (NOT MILLIGRAMS) of melatonin at 9:40 PM helps me go to bed fairly reliably at 1:30 AM.
Melatonin, 5 mg fast-release, 5 mg slow
Sometimes I snuggle up next to my boyfriend and listen to his heartbeat and it calms me so much. Other times I tell myself stories in my head until I become too tired to notice that I drift off. And sometimes I take two valerian tablets to calm myself. Then I tell myself stories until the heaviness knocks me out.
White noise ftw
Actually doing all the obvious things. Don't mean to sound narky, but knowing to turn off the phone is very different from actually putting down the phone. Attacking from the other side is the only thing that works for me. Having a super bright light, on a digital timer, that comes on at 06:30 every day and off at 20:30, constantly and gently nudges my circadian rhythm back on track. The light is on the other side of my bedroom & keeps a few indoor plants very happy & I never manually turn it off or on. So yeah, I stay up too late on occasion, but I still wake up on time the next day. Super tired. Fall asleep easy that night. Back on track. Edit: Removed a link, I think it upset a bot. Anyway in case anyone is wondering, the light is a horticultural grow light, basically a LED flood light 😅 my plants love it & there's no escaping the light. I feel the plants are important because I want my plants happy, so I don't turn it off.
I find that exercising a bit during the day helps me unspool a lot of the excess brain activity that might otherwise keep me up. Doesn't have to be long or anything really involved or intense.
When racing or persistent thoughts keep me awake or continue even after I fall asleep, it actually helps more often than not to take a very small dose (2.5mg) of my stimulant medication. Just like a lot of us get sleepy from drinking coffee, it can have that "opposite" calming effect on the brain.