The Forums › Forums › Emotional Journey › Ups and Downs › Dayparts: Question for the panel…
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January 14, 2012 at 3:10 pm #90414
Like most ADDers my mind races, flitting from one notion to another. BUT… it seems to race more in the mornings. Over the years, most of my brainstorms have come to me within an hour or so of waking up. My thoughts dart about so rapidly after I achieve verticality, I walk into the kitchen ten times before I remember to open the refrigerator. Is this—well, I was going to say normal, but nothing about ADD is normal, so…—commonplace?
REPORT ABUSEJanuary 14, 2012 at 3:18 pm #111452
AnonymousInactiveJanuary 14, 2012 at 3:18 pmPost count: 14413I’m at my most distracted first thing in the morning. Takes me perhaps an hour or two to start to “function”. My way around it is to rise early and walk OR find a quite place (my garden) coffee in hand and watch the world wake up.
REPORT ABUSEJanuary 14, 2012 at 5:13 pm #111453
AnonymousInactiveJanuary 14, 2012 at 5:13 pmPost count: 14413wgreen – I think that the subconscious mind works on your issues as you sleep, then without all of the interruptions of the day, it’s free to flood your waking brain with ideas that sometimes seemingly come from nowhere. That can also happen at any time during the day for me – it completely takes me over because I have to follow the brainstorm.
I try to follow a strict routine first thing in the morning because I have a commitment with my teacher to practice a certain amount of time day and evening. So the only way I can accomplish that is to start meditation practice first thing before anything else, even meds, since to get the meds, I have to go to my computer (where I leave them laid out so I won’t forget them), and also pass the kitchen. I just get up and use the bathroom if I need to, brush my teeth, then go sit. Of course many thoughts come up during meditation practice, they can’t be stopped, but I can keep trying to come back to the intended focus of attention. I say “try” because it isn’t easy for non-ADDers, even more challenging for ADDers. But the attempts are actually the practice, over and over again.
Then after my morning practice, the problems and obstacles start, that keep me from getting out of the house early. I work for myself, so there’s no boss to complain that I am consistently late getting to work.
I have always had a hard time getting going in the morning, without a very strict plan laid out the night before, I can be waylaid by any number of things. I might notice some crumbs on the counter and start rearranging the countertops, taking an hour or more (sometimes I take extra stuff downstairs and I get lost in something in the basement). I might decide to start looking on the internet for something I thought of the day before, hours and hours can be wasted because it’s so easy to click on the next “suggested” link and go off in cyberspace. If the toilet looks a bit dirty, I would clean it, continue on to the sink and tub. I wouldn’t be able to resist leaving it for another time. If I had to go into the laundry closet for paper, I might notice it needed filling up, and go do that.
The more time I give myself to get going in the morning, the more time I take. One strategy for me is to just get up, no computer, do the very basics, and get the heck to work. Once I surprised myself by getting there by 8:15 am. Most days I arrive at 10 am.
Meds help, but they only unlock the door to seeing what patterns are running for me. They’re pretty strong patterns!
In the evening is when my mind can’t stop, and practice is harder and less “successful”. I’ve had the whole day to encounter new problems or issues or ideas, and my mind wants to review what I did, what I could have done, that great idea I can’t resist thinking of, etc. Unfortunately my meds don’t last into the evening.
Peter – I have a friend who does coffee meditation too!
REPORT ABUSEJanuary 14, 2012 at 9:26 pm #111454
AnonymousInactiveJanuary 14, 2012 at 9:26 pmPost count: 14413and the point of that incredibly long post is that when I do my morning practice, I get a bit of a headstart on the day, things are a little less crazy at the beginning of the day for me if I do practice.
REPORT ABUSEJanuary 15, 2012 at 1:26 am #111455I have not been able to get a morning routine that works. This is the thing i have made the least progress with so far since diagnosis. I have a medication I have to take, and then wait 45 minutes before I can take my ADD med. By the time all this happens, I am late every day.
I have tried all kinds of alarms, exercise, meditation, dog walking ideas… etc. My next idea is a sunrise lamp, plus I’m phasing off the medication I have to take before the Concerta. Hoping SO MUCH that I can start getting off to a better start…
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear that ADD is worse in the morning.
REPORT ABUSEJanuary 15, 2012 at 1:37 am #111456I can’t ‘do’ mornings either. I have to have slumber time between first waking up and actually getting up and once up it takes me hours of coffee drinking to get going. Don’t know why I don’t just pop a ritalin when the first of my many alarms goes off!
My body clock just naturally is more night time orientated. So my ideal is night time activity and late mornings, or at least relaxed mornings. I am lucky because some days I can be flexible in my hours at work but on days I have to be in early and functioning it’s complete hell. In an ideal world we should be able to go with the flow but……..
And yes munchin, I think my ADD is worse on a morning even when I have managed an early night, but the dopy forgetful aspects. The buzziness hits later if I have had a stressful start to the day. But if I failed to get organised the night before and I need to do things like find some clothes, keys, etc. then I am completely taken over by the whole lot.
REPORT ABUSEJanuary 16, 2012 at 12:15 am #111457I am a morning person. Afternoons are hard. At night I cannot function past 10. Even though I try, then will wake up at midnight go back to sleep, wake up at 2 or 3 go back to sleep, and wake up at 4,5, or 6 and stay awake.
REPORT ABUSEJanuary 16, 2012 at 1:09 am #111458
AnonymousInactiveJanuary 16, 2012 at 1:09 amPost count: 14413laddybug3, have you talked about your sleep patterns with your GP or ADD specialist? Waking up that frequently could be a sign of something else going on. You may even be waking up more frequently but it could be so short that you don’t register it as an awakening. Have you tried keeping a log to see if there is anything you’re doing that might contribute to it? How long have you had this problem?
REPORT ABUSEJanuary 16, 2012 at 5:09 pm #111459No-dopamine I did do a log in college, because of a class. Hated the class. We had to write down our dreams and do it right when we woke up. It was so hard. When the dream ended I would wake up. The professor mentioned on the paper that I seemed to have too many dreams. She should try writing them down. Haven’t really talked to anyone because I never thought of it as a problem. As long as I can remember; that has been my sleeping pattern. Even my parents told me stories of how I would wake up at 3 in the morning wanting to play. It worked in college. I would wake up remembering I had to write a paper and worked on it at 3, turn it in, and normally got a B.
REPORT ABUSEJanuary 16, 2012 at 5:49 pm #111460
AnonymousInactiveJanuary 16, 2012 at 5:49 pmPost count: 14413Afternoon is best for me too. Mornings are for the birds.. literally. Evenings I tend to trail off. As an example, it’s now 12:45 pm, and I’m just now getting ready to actually do something today.
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