Tips to get better sleep
because most of us need it
Yesterday I wrote about sleep challenges in teens, especially those with ADHD, and the problems sleep deprivation can cause. Today let’s consider how we can get more sleep. Most of us know these things or at least have heard them. The problem is actually making changes to make sleep happen.
You can do this! It is important, so you can make a series of small changes or even make some drastic changes to your overscheduled life to help be a healthier you. Let’s consider the things that have been shown to help so you can decide what changes are needed in your life.
How to Improve Sleep with ADHD
The good news is that better sleep is achievable with the right strategies. Here are practical tips to help teens (and adults) — even those with ADHD — improve their sleep:
Create a Sleep-Friendly Environment
Make your bedroom a comfortable, calming space. Keep the room cool, dark, and quiet to minimize disturbances.
Invest in a comfortable mattress and pillows to support good posture and sleep quality.
Limit exposure to bright lights, especially blue light from screens, in the hour before bed. Keep screens out of the bedroom at bedtime. Charge your phone and computer in another room. If you use your phone as an alarm clock: buy an alarm clock — it’s worth the small investment! Watch tv with others in a shared space.
Use your bed only for sleep. If you do homework, doom scroll, or watch tv in bed, your brain doesn’t associate the bed with sleep. Do those activities elsewhere.
Establish a Consistent Sleep and Wake Routine
Get your things ready for the morning before you go to bed. Put your things in your backpack and your shoes and backpack near the door. Choose your outfit and put it near your bed. Decide what you’ll have for breakfast so you don’t have to think about it in the morning. Do everything that can be done and leave only essentials for the morning. You’ll need to get dressed, fix hair (and possibly makeup), use the toilet, eat, and brush teeth. Those don’t take as long if everything else is already done.
Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends. This helps regulate your body's internal clock (the circadian rhythm). If you do stay up late, try to keep it within an hour or two of your regular bedtime. If you sleep in, try to keep it within an hour or two of your wake time.
Develop a calming pre-sleep routine, such as reading a book, journaling, coloring, taking a warm bath, or practicing relaxation techniques like deep breathing or meditation. If you don’t know how to do this, check out your app store for meditation apps. I chose Balance because they offer a year-long free trial, but there are many popular apps — read reviews and pick one! Use it. Even if it’s hard at first. It really does get easier with practice.
Avoid activities that overstimulate your mind before bed, such as playing video games or scrolling through social media.
Set your alarm for when you need to get up, not 30 minutes early to allow for snooze time. You’re missing out on those 30 minutes of sleep hitting the snooze!
Get outside in the morning for natural sunlight.
Nap Strategically
Teens often struggle to get sufficient sleep due to early school start times. Their circadian rhythm makes it hard for teens to fall asleep before 11 PM, which makes it impossible to get the necessary 8-10 hours when they must wake early for school.
A brief nap when timed right can be refreshing and restorative, but the key is brief. Set an alarm and GET UP when it goes off.
Early afternoon (1-3 PM) is when most people experience a natural decline in energy and alertness and is the optimal time for a nap. This is why it can be possible for many teens to fall asleep after school, but they struggle to sleep at the ideal bedtime.
Try to nap at least 8 hours before ideal sleep time to avoid problems falling asleep for the night. (Yes, this is hard with school, work, and activity schedules!)
For most people, napping for 30 minutes or less will have the most beneficial effect. This allows the body to get some light sleep without entering deep sleep. If you wake up during deep sleep, you may find yourself feeling more tired than you were before the nap.
If you’re significantly sleep deprived and have the time, napping for 90 minutes is another option. This allows your body to cycle through the stages of sleep and avoids disrupting deep sleep. It is best done at 1 PM to not affect bedtime.
For teens who feel the need to sleep in on weekends to catch up on sleep, it may be more helpful to get up at the same time as usual to promote a healthy sleep cycle, but take a 90-minute nap in the early afternoon.
Manage Stimulants
Caffeine is a stimulant with a long half-life, so it stays in your system a long time. Limit use for 8 hours before bedtime to help with sleep. That means a soda with dinner may keep you up or interrupt your sleep cycles even if you fall to sleep. Water or milk would be a better choice for your dinner drink for many reasons.
Nicotine is also a stimulant that affects sleep. If you smoke or vape nicotine products, avoid them for at least 4 hours before bedtime. Of course, the healthiest choice is to stop using nicotine. If you’re trying to quit nicotine, you may also notice sleep problems increase initially. If you’re using a patch, remove it for sleep. Nicotine increases the metabolism of caffeine, so you need more caffeine for the same effect when using nicotine, and if you stop nicotine, you’ll need to significantly cut back on caffeine - start with half of what you previously consumed and adjust as needed.
If you take ADHD stimulant medications, consult your healthcare provider about the timing and dosage. Taking these medications too late in the day may interfere with falling asleep or your sleep cycle. Consider adjusting the timing or switching to a different medication if sleep problems persist.
Limit Sweets and Treats
Eating sugary foods or foods high in saturated fats close to bedtime are linked to insomnia and poor sleep (in addition to acid reflux — which can further lead to poor quality sleep, obesity, diabetes, and other health complications).
Exercise Regularly
Regular physical activity can help reduce hyperactivity, anxiety, and stress, which are common sleep disruptors.
Exercise helps to decrease sleep onset (the time it takes to fall to sleep) and improves sleep quality.
Try to get some form of exercise, like walking, biking, dancing, or yoga, most days of the week. Find something you enjoy and ask a friend to do it with you to help you start a new habit and stick with it.
Sleep Apps and Gadgets
Sleep tracking apps or gadgets can provide insights into your sleep habits, but don't get too fixated on the data. It’s more important to focus on how you feel during the day than on perfecting your sleep scores.
Use calming apps or sound machines to block out distractions and help create a soothing atmosphere for sleep.
Mindfulness apps can help teach you to calm your mind, which is useful to fall to sleep, even if not used at bedtime. Consistent daily practice can help you learn to have thoughts without judgement and stop the chatter in your mind, which is important at bedtime.
Melatonin
Melatonin is made in a gland in your brain and helps set our circadian rhythm (sleep patterns). Levels increase with darkness, which is why it is necessary to turn off screens prior to bedtime to feel tired.
Tryptophan is a building block of melatonin and studies show when people do not take in enough tryptophan, they are more likely to have insomnia. High tryptophan foods include chicken, turkey, red meat, pork, tofu, fish, beans, milk, nuts, seeds, oatmeal, and eggs. Contrary to the common belief that turkey makes you tired, these foods do not make you feel tired, but eating them allows you to produce sufficient amounts of melatonin.
Melatonin is also available as a supplement. Consult with your healthcare professional before using melatonin or other sleep aids.
Practice Mindfulness and Stress Management
Stress and anxiety can worsen sleep problems, so finding ways to manage these emotions is crucial.
Mindfulness meditation, journaling, or breathing exercises can help calm the mind.
Daily exercise has been shown to help stress management.
Set aside a "worry time" each day to write down concerns. Outside this time if you recognize worry thoughts, tell yourself it’s not time to worry. This can help prevent racing thoughts at bedtime and anxiety during the day.
Work with a therapist to learn cognitive behavioral therapy tools to help with stress management and anxiety.
Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol is not recommended for many reasons, but for the purpose of this article, it should be avoided because it interferes with sleep. Even though it can help some people feel tired and fall to sleep, it does not lead to feeling rested in the morning.
Alcohol suppresses REM sleep. REM is when our brain organizes and stores memories and is important for mood regulation.
Alcohol increases the likelihood of snoring and sleep apnea by relaxing the muscles in the throat, collapsing the upper airway. Sleep apnea causes breathing to repeatedly stop and restart during sleep, affecting the amount of oxygen your body gets. You may wake feeling tired, groggy and not well rested. If left untreated, chronic sleep apnea can lead to serious health concerns, such as weight gain and obesity, hypertension, stroke, memory impairment and heart failure.
When you drink alcohol, you are also more likely to need to get up to go to the bathroom during the night, which disrupts your sleep further.
Looking for more?
If your teen needs help with sleep, you can and should talk to their physician.
I also use a coaching-style approach in my online workshops to help motivate teens to make these changes. “Setting the Stage for Success” is on November 2nd (registration closes soon!) and we’ll talk about all the healthy habits we can do to better ourselves.
When to Seek Professional Help
If sleep problems persist despite making changes, it may be time to seek help from a healthcare provider. They can help identify any underlying sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome, and recommend appropriate treatments.
Working with a therapist trained in cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) can also be beneficial.
Conclusion
For teens (and adults) — especially those with ADHD, improving sleep isn't just about getting more rest. It's about improving quality of life and overall mental and physical health.
Better sleep can lead to better focus, mood, and daily functioning. It is important for a child and teen’s growth, helps regulate our weight, and is important to our cardiovascular and immune systems.
While getting sufficient sleep is often challenging, incorporating the strategies above can help make restful nights a reality.
Remember, you don't have to do it all at once. Start with one or two changes and gradually build healthier sleep habits. You'll soon notice the difference it makes!
You’ve got this!
Addendum
I wrote, edited, re-read, and thought I had everything I wanted in this post, but I forgot one very important thing: life balance. Learn to say “no” when needed.
Our jam-packed schedules are the sworn enemies of sleep. We only get 24 hours in a day, but we act like we can squeeze in another activity by borrowing from our sleep time. It's a common habit, but spoiler alert: it backfires.
Skimping on sleep makes us even more tired, which slows us down, so everything drags on longer than it should. And because we get bored more easily when sleep deprived, we end up procrastinating by swapping important tasks for time-wasters (looking at you, doom-scrolling).
It’s time to get better at saying “no” to things we can’t fit in.
If we really want to add something to our plates, we need to let something else slide. That might mean cutting down on time-wasters like social media or gaming.
If scaling back screen time isn’t enough, it’s time for some serious reflection on what really matters. You can’t be in six AP classes, play on an elite soccer team year-round, join the school team during the season, and be in the band all at once. Something’s gotta give!
Prioritizing means giving your full attention to what you can manage—without sacrificing sleep or self-care.
