Routines

Evening routines — how do you actually wind down when your brain won't stop?

Posted by dev_adhd · 5 days ago · 29 replies · 1063 views

By 9pm I'm physically tired but mentally I'm just getting started. I have all my best ideas at night. I want to pursue them all. And then it's 1am.

I know this is a really common ADHD pattern (evening alertness, delayed sleep phase) but knowing it doesn't fix it.

What evening routines have actually worked for you? Especially interested in what helps the brain start to transition toward sleep.

4 replies

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leila_rsd 5 days ago

I stop opening anything new after 9pm. No new articles, no new shows, no new anything. I can continue something I was already doing but I can't start something new. The novelty-seeking part of my brain is specifically what keeps me up — cutting off the new input helps.

▲ 4

marcus_burnout 5 days ago

The wind-down music approach genuinely works for me. I start with something calm but not sleep music around 8:30. Then progressively slower, quieter music. By 10 I have something that's basically ambient and it transitions my brain down rather than off.

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jamie_adhd 5 days ago

Physical: a shower specifically to mark the transition. Same temperature, same time, same routine. My brain has apparently decided this means sleep is coming and it cooperates.

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yuki_focus 5 days ago

I have a 'brain dump' notebook. Any idea or thought that comes up in the evening, I write it down. This addresses the anxiety that I'll forget it if I don't act on it now. The thought is captured. I can sleep. This alone changed my evenings significantly.

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Evening routines — how do you actually wind down when your brain won't stop?

4 replies

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