You know something I find interesting about ADHD, which I never knew before and just always assumed was part of life, is how much harder it is for me to get up in the morning. Waking up is scientifically harder. It’s something to do with our sleep architecture. ADHD is linked to delayed sleep tendencies, meaning we have a natural pull toward later sleep and wake times, and it also means we often get lower sleep quality overall, so we wake up less rested even after clocking enough hours in bed. There are a few other things that cause us to sleep in longer too, like dopamine regulation. Apparently an alarm blaring at us first thing isn’t exactly a dopamine-friendly wake-up call. Who would have thought.
Anyway, that’s not really what I’m trying to get at. What I’m trying to get at is that I wasn’t even aware of any of this. This whole time I’ve been approaching mornings differently from most other people, and I only properly realised that when I saw that even sleep, of all things, works differently for me. When I was younger, back in school, I used to set an alarm every hour of my sleep cycle, so that by the time it was actually time to wake up, my brain hadn’t fully submerged into deep sleep, and while I wasn’t well rested at all, it was much easier to actually get up. Not the healthiest approach, admittedly, and as I got older it evolved. Now I sleep a full night and set two alarms, one at my usual wake up time and one an hour before. So it might look like 8am and 9am, and the reason is so I can take my medication at 8am, which starts to power up my brain, so that by the time my 9am alarm goes off, I’m most likely already awake.
It’s interesting, discovering areas of your life that ADHD has been quietly shaping all along. Makes me wonder, is there anything you’ve discovered recently that ADHD affects in ways you wouldn’t expect? Let me know, I’m curious what else is hiding in plain sight.
