The ADHD ‘night owl’ 🦉

1. APAlex Partridge0:00

   People with ADHD like to stay awake later than neurotypicals, and this has puzzled researchers for twenty years until now. They have recently discovered that the reason people with ADHD are often up late into the night actually has nothing to do with sleep, but more about the fact that the quietness of the night allows their brain to finally feel safe enough to focus. During the day, there's expectations, there's pressure, there's perceived threats. During the day, the ADHD nervous system is trying to survive, making sustained focus very hard. But at night, it's peaceful, the nervous system finally has time to relax, and the ADHD brain can get its best work done. The nighttime peace is quite addictive, so the ADHD person will then delay sleep because it finally feels safe, and this is called revenge bedtime procrastination. So the ADHD person will often be awake until the sun comes up, but we shouldn't feel shame about this. You're not lacking discipline, you're just chasing the calm.

Episode duration: 0:53