Dr. Sandra Kooij is a good person to look up if you are interested in adult ADHD and sleep. She has a book about it. From what I remember, there are a few things that are known:

1. a large majority of ADHD sufferers are phase-delayed and struggle with insomnia

2. you can induce ADHD-like symptoms in normal people by restricting sleep

3. Some of the interventions that improve sleep timing and quality affect ADHD (but it isn't a total cure)

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al_borland an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> 1. a large majority of ADHD sufferers are phase-delayed and struggle with insomnia

I would think this wouldn't be such a problem if society would acknowledge night owls exist and allow work to adjust accordingly. Forcing a night owl to live the life of a morning lark is likely not the best way to get their best work. The person suffers who has to try and live in a world not designed for when they sleep, and the employer suffers by getting less out of those people.

I have ADHD and left to my own devices I would go to sleep somewhere between 2-4am. At work, I don't function so well before about 2pm some days... and by that point that day is almost over.

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brailsafe an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Completely agree, and tend towards the same schedule. I don't even mind working in-person with people, but this idea that everyone should just be uniformly aligned to operate on the same hours is alienating and humiliating at times.

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theshackleford an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> I have ADHD and left to my own devices I would go to sleep somewhere between 2-4am. At work, I don't function so well before about 2pm some days... and by that point that day is almost over.

Indeed. I've struggled with it since childhood, not only me. The same "symptoms" for lack of a better word are seen with my mother, my aunt and my grandmother. All are night owls, all sleep poorly etc.

For whatever reason, regardless of how much sleep i've had, my brain begins to kick into high gear with a clarity of thought and capacity to dedicate myself to things starting at about 9PM. This remains true REGARDLESS of sleep, how well rested I am, general health, etc. I could have had NO sleep for 24 hours, still be away at 9PM the next night, and it's like a switch.

The ONLY time this ever differs, for reasons still unknown, and where I fit into "normal society" is for whatever reason, when I visit Russia (which I have not done for some time for obvious reasons.)

When I am in Russia, with no effort at all, I sleep normal hours without issue, and wake up during the day time actually well rested. This ceases once I return to my timezone. This same pattern is not seen when say, I visit the US instead.

If only I could harness this magic...

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luckydata an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

being a night owl is not good for your health for a lot of reasons (I am one).

	▲	theshackleford an hour ago \| parent [-]
		This would depend on the individual, or so my sleep team, including my sleep doctor suggest. It is better for me to align with a pattern where I get some level of restful sleep, as opposed to one where I do not ultimately. In an ideal world, you are obviously correct, but in the world between a severely disturbed sleep where I get a handful of hours of actually restorative sleep, vs once where I actually sleep for 7 hours? One wins over the other. And yes, given I have an entire medical team (for other reasons, I have a SCI) I have done about everything you can to resolve sleep. Between ADHD however, symptoms related to the SCI etc, we really do just have to go with whatever we can reasonably get.

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mikert89 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

its a catch all for people whos brains didnt develop correctly, people who are a genius, and boys