Helping Kids (and Parents) Sleep Better
Sleep Issues in Autistic & ADHD kids, and sleep tips from a fellow neurodivergent & former insomniac
Sleep awareness
It’s very common for people to have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep at night, especially for Autistic and ADHD kids. I am lucky that I usually sleep well now that I’m older, but this comes after many, many years of insomnia and sleep issues.
The only reason I sleep well now is that I have a very active job which keeps me outdoors a lot and because I stick to a strict sleeping schedule at least 6 days of the week.
Being home during Covid and then being off school for the summer break can really throw off our routines, making sleep issues worse.
Not getting enough sleep can make us more grumpy, and can even lead to making decisions we later regret, because our brains don’t work as well when we’re tired. We don’t think as clearly when we haven’t had a good night’s sleep.
If our brains and bodies are tired because we haven’t had a good night’s sleep, we might feel angry more easily because it’s harder to control our emotions — and our actions — when our brains are tired.
