If you know someone with ADHD, you might start wondering how their disorder affects them in their day-to-day life. Do people with ADHD need more sleep, and why do they always seem to be napping during the day?
Unfortunately, people with this disorder are more likely to have trouble sleeping through the night, so it’s rare for them to wake up feeling rested like most of the population. However, does this mean that they should be sleeping for more hours of the day, or is it because of their poor quality of sleep? These are the questions we are going to explore in this article.
If you want to learn more about ADHD and find out some helpful tips, we encourage you to look at our articles on how to study better with ADHD, manage this disorder in the workplace, and how parents can create an ADHD-friendly home environment for their children. We also explore how schools can better support students with ADHD, and go through the truth about caffeine and this disorder as well as the importance of nutrition and brain development.
Understanding ADHD
There are plenty of successful people with ADHD, including Michael Phelps, Adam Levine, Simone Biles, Margot Robbie, and many more. So, if you ever thought that having ADHD means that you wouldn’t be able to achieve what you want in life, you would be wrong.
When it comes to ADHD, there are two single types to be aware of – inattentive and hyperactive. However, these can also exist alongside each other to form the combined type of ADHD.
ADHD is measured with three severity levels – mild, moderate, and severe. Here’s a quick breakdown:
- Mild – minimal ADHD-related impairment, and there are few other symptoms present besides those required to meet the ADHD diagnostic criteria.
- Moderate – there is more notable ADHD-related impairment, and there are a number of more dominant symptoms
- Severe – there is severe ADHD-related impairment, and it heavily impacts your life (school, work, etc), and there are either a lot of symptoms present, or some of them are very severe.
Common Symptoms
To help you understand what ADHD might look like, we will go through some common indicators to look out for. However, it’s important to remember that ADHD is complicated, and symptoms can manifest differently in different people. As with many disorders, women and girls are less likely to show many of the classic behaviours due to copying those around them. This means that ADHD is underdiagnosed in half the population.
Some common symptoms that you might see in someone with ADHD include the following:
- Acting without first thinking about it
- Appears to not listen when directly spoken to
- Consistently interrupting conversations
- Always feeling restless
- Forgets about daily activities
- Easily distracted by their surroundings and stimuli
- Frequently loses important things (e.g. phone, car keys, etc)
- Shorter attention span
Do People With ADHD Need More Sleep?
There are many myths about ADHD, and it is important to know what is true and what is false. Incorrect information that comes off as fact can be damaging to the ADHD community, just like it can be to other groups of people, and any claims to generalise symptoms to this group of people should be well-researched before being accepted as a fact.
With that being said, we are always learning new things, and new research is constantly being done in an attempt to better understand neurodivergent individuals. As it currently stands in 2024, there is no evidence to suggest that people with ADHD need more sleep than other people of their age.
This means that those aged between 14–17 benefit from getting 8–10 hours of sleep, while 18–64-year-olds should get between 7–9 hours of sleep every day. Adults over the age of 65 are recommended to get 7–8 hours.
It’s interesting to note that there has been some evidence to suggest that people with ADHD do benefit from the upper amount of recommended sleep, though. However, this does not mean that they inherently need more sleep, and it is entirely possible for other factors to play into how much sleep they are getting and whether they feel well-rested when they wake up.
Do a Lot of People With ADHD Have Sleep Issues?
Many people with ADHD do suffer from sleep issues that they need to deal with. Between 50–75% of adults with ADHD are estimated to experience sleeping problems like insomnia. It is also more likely for people with this disorder to sleep for shorter periods of time and have difficulty getting to sleep and staying asleep.
As a result, more sleeping issues can develop, which only makes this more challenging.
Are People With ADHD More Likely to Nap During the Day?
Yes, individuals with ADHD are more likely to take naps during the day due to daytime sleepiness. This can impact people of all ages, and because ADHD impairs brain activity regulation, sleep patterns are difficult to form and maintain.
Is it Harder for People With ADHD to Wake Up?
Overall, people with ADHD tend to find it more difficult to wake up in the morning. This can pose a challenge for many people, as society demands us to be productive in the morning and start working.
This can lead to an important discussion about modern society and its expectations that many neurodivergent people struggle with. While this is a discussion for a later date, it’s something to think about, as we are all so different, and in so many regards, today’s society can be equated to a test of asking a fish to climb a tree.
Getting Tested for ADHD
If you think you or someone you know has ADHD and would like to get tested for it, the Brain Workshop can help you. The process is straightforward, and getting an assessment may be easier than you think.
All you need to do is click on this link, and it will take you to our assessment page. Here, we go through the details of the Gibson Test and you can fill out a form in the contact us section on the right-hand side to either book an assessment or get more information.
One of our team will get back to you as soon as possible, and we can decide on the next steps together.
Before the assessment, you will likely need to fill out a number of different forms as part of the pre-assessment task. Be aware that this might contain some questions that could be upsetting, but you have the choice not to answer if you don’t feel comfortable with the psychiatrist knowing.
In a typical ADHD assessment, you can expect to talk to a psychiatrist for anywhere between 45–90 minutes. So, you need to make sure that you have carved enough time out of your day for this. At the Brain Workshop, however, we can do assessments in-person or via a video call like Zoom. This means that you can go through your assessment and get your diagnosis from another country without any trouble.
Get in Touch With the Brain Workshop
An estimated 2.5% of the global adult population has ADHD. This is no small number, and millions of people have to deal with the daily struggles of ADHD and the comorbidities that may come with it, with sleep disorders being one of them.
Sleep is key for all of us, but do people with ADHD need more sleep than neurotypical people or those with different neurodivergent conditions? Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that they do, but as research continues and evolves, this can always change.
Want to read more? We’ve talked about brain rot and its connection to ADHD and if Elon Musk has ADHD, so there is plenty for you to learn about if you are curious.
