Children and ADHD – Overcoming Their Sleep Challenges
Bedtime for most kids is already a very challenging task. Add attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder to the mix and that challenge will automatically become an almost impossible burden. ADHD and sleep challenges correlate. Both can mess up with a child’s sleeping patterns and ability to fall asleep, resulting in sleepless nights for both the parent and the child. This article talks about child ADHD overcome sleeping.
Whether you’re staying in the best hotels in Manchester, or just living in a cozy house in Rochdale, your child’s problems with sleeping will remain the same, unless you do something about it. So to help you out, we’ve compiled
Four of the best tips and tricks that will help your child ADHD overcome sleeping
Exercise, Exercise, Exercise
As a parent of an ADHD child, you are very much aware that burning your child’s energy through physical activity is very important. That is why doing daily exercise routines at fixed schedules is an essential move to try and wear them down in preparation for bed. What that also implies is you should not let your child do any more physical activity minutes or an hour before bedtime. The reason is that the brain chemicals released when exercising unintentionally fuel the child’s ability to remain active and awake.
Instead, you should schedule these exercise routines for at least three hours before bedtime. You can do it right after your child comes home from school. Let your child run around and play outside. In the event of cold or rainy weather, you can create an indoor obstacle course, teach your child how to do yoga, or play an active indoor game. Doing physical activities will allow your child’s body to burn excessive amounts of energy while allowing him time to calm down and decompress before bedtime.
Keeping A Consistent Routine
It can potentially take several hours for an ADHD child to fully calm down even after you have already started a daily routine. What you need to do is to be consistent with it. Consistency and repetitiveness help the ADHD brain absorb and adapt to your everyday routine, making sure that your kid also sticks to it.
It’s essential that you make your bedtime habits repetitive and predictable: you can choose to put all of your toys away, brush and clean your teeth, get changed for bed, read a bedtime story, and so on. These activities will allow your child to relax, unwind, and get his mindset ready for bed.
Also, allow them time to ask any questions about his day. Make sure you address all of their problems as this helps reduce his anxiety and discourage him from eventually getting out of bed just to ask questions. You can also let them listen to a number of songs to allow them to relax and fall asleep faster.
Utilise an Alarm Clock
Another issue is getting up late or waking up too early. You can go for different strategies to approach this, No matter what solution you try, it won’t be as effective as an alarm clock. You can either use a traditional alarm clock, of you can use the alarm on your phone. You can use the alarm clock on yourself and be the one to wake your child personally. You can also use it for your child and get them to get used to the alarm clock.
Lessen the Anxiety
Kids with ADHD suffer from certain levels of anxiety. So to make sure your child with adhd gets the best quality sleep, you need to reduce the amount of stress they get leading up to bedtime. Again, encourage your child to ask whatever questions they need or ask them to share whatever is on their mind. Knowing that they have you to listen to their problems will definitely lessen their anxiety and make them more confident about themselves.
Try Natural Remedies
We’ve been told how nutrition has nothing to do with treating ADHD. However, it can make a huge factor towards your child’s development moving forward. Give them a balanced diet of fruits and vegetables, and stay away from too much sugar as it will spike their energy levels and make them more hyperactive.
Here are other methods you can consider:
- Weighted blanket: this one has nothing to do with nutrition, but it does help your child sleep better than usual. Having a weighted blanket will make them feel like they are being hugged, which contributes to comfortability and ease.
- Essential oils: we highly recommend the lavender variant as it can calm and ease the stress of sleep.
Say Goodnight To Your Child’s Sleep Problems
By making the right action for your child’s ADHD problems, they can live a healthy life. Never take your child’s sleep problems. Help them overcome their struggles by implementing the tips mentioned above.
