Many people with ADHD have ‘delayed sleep phase disorder’, meaning falling – and staying – asleep can be difficult. Here’s how to treat it. With minds that whir away at night as soon as their heads hit the pillow, people with ADHD often struggle to get to sleep , and when they do their sleep is restless and disturbed.

Clinicians estimate that between 50-75 per cent of people with ADHD will suffer from debilitating sleep disorders. “Sufferers often call it “perverse sleep” — when they want to be asleep, they are awake; when they want to be awake, they are asleep,” says Dr William Dodson, a US-based psychiatrist and leading specialist in ADHD in adults. Yet treating ADHD can help with sleep problems, and getting a better night’s sleep can also reduce ADHD symptoms.

Medication for ADHD will also treat sleep problems, but certain non- medication -based therapies can also be useful. Read on for everything you need to know about ADHD and sleep. How are ADHD and sleep connected? People with ADHD often have difficulties: Getting to sleep Staying asleep as their sleep is restless Waking up in the morning Dr Helen Read is a consultant psychiatrist who worked in the NHS, and now runs a private practice, The ADHD Consultancy.

She also has ADHD herself. “Falling asleep can be a big issue as many people with ADHD have what is known as a delayed sleep phase disorder. Come 9pm their brains come alive, and they might stay up until the early hours of the morning and wak.