You may have noticed this newsletter looks a bit different. Skip down to the Moving to Substack section for more information on this!
Hello friends,
Itâs no secret that most people with ADHD struggle with sleep.
Whether itâs getting to bed at a âreasonableâ time (who decides whatâs reasonable anyways?), falling asleep once youâre in bed, or staying asleep through the nightâmany of us struggle with at least one of these areas of sleep, if not all three.
We wonât even get into the difficulties of getting out of bed in the morning⌠đŹ
I recently did a survey on Twitter about ADHD and sleep struggles:
More than half of the people said going to bed on time was their biggest struggle. This actually wasnât surprising to me, since itâs my own primary struggle with sleep as well. (Many also responded to say that they struggled with âall of the aboveâ)
At night, I often just feel stuck. Stuck sitting on the couch and unable to get myself to move to bed. I have this weird feeling like I donât want to lose out on doing something important or productive with that time rather than sleep (even though I usually just end up refreshing social media instead).
A big reason so many of us struggle with getting to bed is that we just donât feel tired at the same time that others doâour circadian rhythm feels delayed from the rest of the world.
It turns out this is actually a thing commonly called Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS), and itâs extremely common with ADHD. Some studies have said around 75% of people with ADHD also have this delayed circadian rhythm. (European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. (2017, September 4). Is ADHD really a sleep problem? ScienceDaily.)
This means we donât get the natural signals from our body that tell us we should go to bed until much later than most people.
This also means itâs much more difficult for us to wake up in the morning. Not just because we are lacking sleep from going to bed so late, but because our body just isnât giving us the signals to wake up yet.
So what can you do about it? Iâll be completely honest and say that I struggle with this big time. Iâm still working on this newsletter and itâs nearly 2am in the morning. I need to wake up in less than 6 hours and I donât feel tired yet.
But here are some strategies have been shown to help:
Environmental cues. Dim lighting in the evening (automated if possible), change into pajamas, read a book to slow down your busy brain.
Turn off electronics. Stop giving your brain all-night access to the dopamine slot machines that keep us stimulated.
Accountability buddy. If you live with someone, agree on some evening rulesâwhat time tv goes off for the night, when evening chores need to be completed by, etc. All cues to help nudge you toward an early bed time.
Light therapy. Youâll need to consult a sleep specialist for this, but light therapy has been shown to be effective for treating DSPS.
Have any of these strategies been helpful for you? Or any other strategies? Let me know!
Stay focused,
Jesse J. Anderson
P.S. You may have already noticed that this newsletter looked a bit different than usual. And came from a new email addressâmake sure to add adhdjesse@substack.com to your address book so you donât miss any future issues!
Moving to Substack
So Iâm doing an experiment with the newsletterâIâve moved to Substack as my provider which adds a bunch of cool features that Iâm very excited about!
Community Engagement
Mobile App & Chat
Direct Support
Community Engagement
People often reply to my newsletters and I love reading the great ideas and strategies and stories and everything that people share with me! But it bums me out that there isnât an easy way for more people to connect in this way and see these great ideas being shared.
Occasionally, I ask for feedback and share some in a followup issue, like when I asked people to share ADHD strategies last month:
But now with Substack, people can interact with each other in the public comment section, using each newsletter as a topic prompt!
It will still be delivered to your email as before, but you can jump to the online version to further interact.
For example, this newsletter was about ADHD and sleep difficulties, so this would be a great opportunity to leave comments about your own experience with sleep and maybe share any strategies that have helped!
Mobile App & Chat
Substack has a native mobile app you can download, for even more convenient access to the Extra Focus newsletter.
This makes it easy to interact with some of the social features (liking, commenting), and even has a chat feature which I may experiment with as another option for more community engagement and interaction. đ
Direct Support
I experimented with using sponsors and affiliates to help support the newsletter in 2022 and honestly, it never really worked that well. Without getting into the nitty gritty, the affiliate income wasnât covering the cost to host the newsletter, so it was a net loss of time and energy.
But I love writing this newsletter and hearing from so many of you how this (and my other work) has helped you feel not so alone and given you support and a community in living with ADHD!
So in 2023, Iâm going to try using an optional paid subscription/support model.
This will not change the weekly Extra Focus newsletter which will always be free!
The primary benefit for paid subscribers is to help support this newsletter and the other ADHD work I do. đ
But I have added a couple of perks as a thank you to those who sign up to help support Extra Focus:
đď¸ Full access to the newsletter archive
đ Occasional paid subscriber-only posts
What are the subscriber-only posts going to be? Well, Iâm not sure yet!
Here are a few ideas I have: early looks at future content Iâm working on, deep dives into a specific topic, behind-the-scenes on the work Iâm doing, book recommendations/notes, strategy compilations, etc.
If you have any ideas, Iâd love to hear them! Maybe leave some suggestions in the comment section. đ
![Meme of Jason Momoa sneaking up on Henry Cavill.
[text over Cavill]: Project Iâve been working on and am just about to complete
[text over Momoa]: New interest](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fmedia%2FFl_PpXmagAIfh6B.jpg)
Iâve learned to associate certain smells with bedtime and sleep. I have sprays that I use on my blanket and pillow that tell me on another level that itâs time to shut myself down. I find it helps when used as part of a group of things that I do at bedtime in no order whatsoever.
âAt night, I often just feel stuck. Stuck sitting on the couch and unable to get myself to move to bedâ
This is me exactly!!
Iâve tried to explain it to people and they think Iâm making it up!
I use a Whoop and one of the main reasons is so I can SEE every day how my sleep is and how long.
If I didnât make it visible, Iâd be even worse. I absolutely know that.