Submitted by jennalemon on 04/29/2012.
I am trying to understand ADD better. DH has tinnitus. He says he needs to have the tv AND the radio on different channels loudly all night and all the lights on. I would think that an ADD person would need the quiet to be calm. Anyone else need to sleep with noises going on? Or is this just a tinnitus thing?
White Noise
Submitted by YYZ on
This is actually pretty easy ;) ADDer's can only process a few different noise channels at a time. Like people talking, phone ringing, copier printing and so on. My cure is music. I need music on to buffer out all of the little noise channels around me. I can actually focus and concentrate with music playing and a little loud too. Silence is deafening to an ADDer, because every little random sound is distracting. Make sense? I can work focused for hours and not really notice I've listened to the same album 3 times. The music is just a soothing buffer.
Sleep is the same way. I have to have a noisy fan on 24/7/365 :) I don't like lights on, but everyone is a bit different I guess.
I know exactly what you
Submitted by maximumadams on
I know exactly what you mean!
My biggest problem is that I'm a musician with ADHD, so I find that when I listen to music I tend to analyse the heck out of it! Production, melodic structures, what brand of instruments they use...
don't get me wrong though, I love doing it, but it changes from a buffer, to sometimes a distraction :)
but I find that there's a way around it sort of. Like going to sleep, sometimes I listen to isochronic tones (a type of brainwave entrainment) even, ironically, white noise can be good. Haha!
Musician...
Submitted by YYZ on
I'm a Mostly Retired Bass Trombone player, so the music I select also usually reflects the mood I'm in. If the music was catching my attention too much I'd have to change it. I was just a player and can probably only pick out the old Bach Strat from the other Bass Bones ;)
Yep the fight to shut your
Submitted by summerwine on
Yep the fight to shut your brain off enough to get to sleep. I need the light completely out I even wear a sleeping mask if i have to. And I have a fan running all the time in the bedroom. And I can't wear clothes to bed because they will drive me crazy. My son who is also ADHD and has some sensory issues has to have certain kinds of sheets and fabrics for his jammies and no creases to lay on and he needs a night light but it cant be shining in his face and he likes the fan or music too.
No lights, no clothes...
Submitted by YYZ on
I hear you! Light lets you see things, after you wake up because your shirt or shorts get all twisted up from tossing and turning all night. Been there, done that ;) Fan for noise and air movement. I need it COLD at night too ;)
Noise, yes, lights, huh???
Submitted by ADHDMomof2 on
We have a white noise machine. We used to use a fan before that. I want to sleep in a cave, and for it to be so dark I can't see my hand in front of my face. Unfortunately, our house is very dry, so we have a humidifier with a SUPER ANNOYING blue light that shines overhead like a f-ing bat signal. My husband tries to wrap it in a towel, but it's still obvious. When I was a kid, humidifiers didn't have stupid lights. Do these type of humidifiers still exist (I put that out to anyone who might know)? We have 4 different humidifiers, all illuminated. I just discovered the wonders of a sleeping mask, but keep forgetting to use it. And I finally realized a few years ago that I overheat really easily at night, no matter how cold I am when I get into bed. So I am now a naked sleeper, too. He-he.
YYZ's explanation was PERFECT and true. I personally couldn't stand lights on or the T.V. on loudly, but the thought process for noise makes sense.
Actually, the light thing makes absolutely no sense. The human brain needs the dark to produce melatonin. Even the human ADHD brain.