Sleeplessness, diet, and adhd and attitude

EccentricDad

I have adhd. Or rather, there are times where adhd has me. I also have hypersensitivity and consider myself a highly sensitive person. Being adhd and an hsp doesn't bring me popularity; but I do my best to keep my disorderly conduct at bay. But this discussion is about diet, sleep, and how these two things affect people with adhd.

All this week, because of the kids going back to school and my social life not adjusting properly, I have been going to bed around midnight and waking up around 6am. This is fine for some people, but for a 30 year old with adhd, I need 8 hours of sleep MINIMUM or else I am a ****head (see my recent comments around this forum and you will see what I mean) ... I just woke up from a 4 hour nap and it's like I am a different person. Let me explain the difference so people can see within themselves if they can relate:

On less sleep I:
See things between the lines that aren't there (hyper vigilance)
Have very low tolerance to noise
Extra sensitive to criticism
Unable to converse with chatterboxes or drama queens at all
Argumentative and Contradicting more often
Defensiveness
Pessimism
Martyrdom
Lack of concern to detail other than perceived threats
Lethargy

While most of this looks like a normal day for anyone who had little sleep or skipped their ritualistic coffee, for a person who ISN'T a highly sensitive person this wouldn't be too extreme from typical behavior. But for someone who is a polar opposite of all the above on a general day, the above behaviors can be pretty radical. It would be like switching from straight black coffee to watered down decaf instead of hazelnut coffee to vanilla coffee (more subtle difference).

So what can be done about this? Well I am not a doctor but I am a sufferer (or rather adhd is my temperament) so I will talk from my own point of view like they are facts (because they are facts to me). Anyways, diet and exercise plays a huge role in a person with adhd's life. If a person with adhd doesn't get enough sleep they are a *kitten*; but a person with adhd has generally no concept of time and their body clocks never work, so this is how diet and exercise come into play. A human can only handle so much stress before excess cortisol is released; but a person with adhd is terrible at self regulation so the only way to release this cortisol is exercise or relaxation techniques (read: yoga) . A person with adhd should avoid overstimulation at all points of the day (not just night) and live a ssimpler life so cortisol levels would be lower naturally. The diet of a person with adhd should be simple too with controlled amounts of sugar, sodium, texture, and flavors (again, avoiding overstimulation). A person with adhd should get no less than 8 hours of sleep: melatonin and dim lights help with that if exercise isn't enough.

After getting 8 or more hours of sleep, a person with adhd and hsp will have less problemsome symptoms of disorderly conduct but their natural sensitivity will still be intact. Even after 10 hours of sleep I still have issues with bright lights, loud noises, tactile issues, overwhelming smells (luckily my septum is deviated), and I am still easily overestimated. On the bright side though, I am more in tune with what is going on around me and can grasp the big picture and the minor details most people overlook or underappreciate like the feeling of the sun or the way everyone non-verbally communicate their moods.

So if you find yourself having issues, and you have adhd tendencies, and if you are suspicious of your own highly sensitive temperament, then I hope you can find a way to get more sleep, get more exercise, and eat simpler foods.

Thank you for your time reading my OPINION (this is not a medical facts, just me sharing a personal experience) . And I want to apologize for my behavior before my nap.

Bibianna2012

Hey thanks for posting... Im flagging your post to read later. I started to read it but I have ADHD and there were too many words for me to stick with it! A lot of the things you mention resonate with me.

Have a good one!