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Suggestions from younger people re sleep

Homebird

I am wondering if one of the younger people on here might have any suggestions that work for them getting to sleep. I have my own methods, but my son who is 17 and has ADHD as well as autism finds it difficult to switch off. He enjoys gaming. My methods would not work for him.

  • My daughter's much younger, but I've just got her a sleep headband with earphones in it so I can play her relaxing music to get her to sleep. She's started on some zen music from Spotify(other music is available). My husband was speaking to someone with ADHD at work and he uses white noise. 

    I also got her a small weird device that is meant to help -pulses (like a tens machine), for 20 minutes to help her relax. As a parent, you'd try anything!

  • in reply to Ann :)

    Thank you, that is an interesting comment about diet as his appetite varies quite a lot.

  • Listening to audiobooks used to help me. I have a lot of issues with sleep at the moment actually though for me low blood sugar and issues with digestion and food are the main culprit. Diet can have quite a huge impact on sleep. 

  • It's part of autism I think. I sleep very randomly. I might wake up at 3am like I did tonite and want to stay up for a while. I'll probably fall asleep again soon.

  • in reply to Iain

    Thank you for your reply. You have pointed out the things we have suggested. Unfortunately they are the kind of things I do, but he is not organized enough. We have told him about screens, but the main issue is one I have of not being able to switch the mind off.

    He does have a shower every night before bed unless on the rare occasion he is going out late. That is one routine he has always done.

  • A digital detox for at least an hour before bed is a very good idea. There is some explanation on this here:

    https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/how-electronics-affect-sleep

    (they try to sell devices to help but ignore the marketing - just avoiding the devices, including TV and it makes a lot of difference).

    This can be tricky if they have all the devices in their bedroom as the temptation to pick up their phone and "just check something" will be very high.

    Teaching techniques for calming the mind once in bed also helps

    Get him to write out all the things he needs to do the next day / week on a sheet of paper before going to bed then consult that when he wakes up - this helps avoid the anxiety of forgetting anything.

    Encourage him to have a shower every day before bedtime too - most teenagers get a bit lax with personal hygiene (especially boys) so this teaches him better practce and also gives him an opportunity to masturbate (high drive at this age) in private and thus feel more relaxed afterwards. Everyone is a winner here so long as you train him to clean the bathroom up after use.

    Those are the main things I think are relevant here - there are other techniques as well but I think these are where I would start.