Why You Power Up at 10 PM (and How to Unwind with Your ADHD Brain)
Understanding your ADHD brain clock and crafting a nighttime routine that works.
You meant to have a calm night. Maybe just a little routine, some quiet time, an early sleep.
Then, out of nowhere, your brain flips a switch. Suddenly, it’s 10:42 p.m. and you’re filled with a burning urge to start a passion project, organize your finances, or finally do the one thing you spent the entire day avoiding. Meanwhile, your bed’s now a desk, and your quiet night has turned into a full-blown life audit.
That’s exactly how this newsletter came to be. I got a random surge of energy, started thinking about why this keeps happening, and ended up researching ADHD sleep patterns instead of actually... sleeping.
I guess that’s the point, though: not to guilt ourselves for these patterns, but to understand them better and gently shape routines that work with our brains, not against them. This week’s worksheet is designed with that in mind. All readers this week can download it at the end of this newsletter. It's a gentle, ADHD-friendly way to spot your sleep-sabotaging patterns and build a nighttime rhythm that actually helps you rest.
Why does this happen? (And what your ADHD brain is actually doing)
So why does your brain get motivated right when you're supposed to wind down? A few common ADHD patterns help explain it: brain chemistry, circadian rhythms, and a touch of emotional rebellion.
Here's how they work (and why understanding them helps):
1. Dopamine Disruption
ADHD brains often run low on dopamine, the neurotransmitter that drives motivation and reward. During the day, everything can feel like a drag. But at night, when pressure lifts and distractions fade, your brain finally kicks into gear.
Research shows ADHD brains have underactive dopamine reward pathways, making us crave stimulation even more. That "midnight second wind"? It's dopamine finally arriving at the party. Children and teens with ADHD often experience something similar, feeling a burst of energy at night, right when the world slows down.
2. Circadian Rhythm Shifts
Most ADHD brains don’t follow a typical 9-to-5 schedule. Many of us naturally feel more alert later in the day due to something called delayed sleep phase.
One study found that 73-78 percent of college students with ADHD have an "evening" chronotype (you can read more here). If your body isn’t producing melatonin early enough, it’s no wonder you don’t feel sleepy, even when you want to. This is especially common in teens, but it often continues into adulthood. That late-night burst of clarity isn’t a personal failure. It’s just how your brain’s clock is set.
3. Revenge Procrastination and Executive Dysfunction
Burnout also plays a role here. After a tough day, ADHD brains crave some sense of control. That’s when revenge bedtime procrastination shows up. Staying up late feels like a way to reclaim time that felt lost or unproductive.
And it’s not just a matter of poor habits or willpower. Executive dysfunction makes it genuinely harder to stop and transition to rest. This study found that adults with ADHD score higher on bedtime procrastination and lower on self-control. Children show this too, but adults often feel it as that quiet, exhausting push and pull between needing sleep and finally having energy.
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What can we actually do about it?
There’s no perfect bedtime routine for ADHD brains. But there are small things you can do to make nights a little less chaotic, and mornings a little less painful.
Below are a few ADHD-friendly strategies backed by science and built with real brains in mind. You don’t need to do all of them and you certainly don’t need to do them every night. But if one of them feels doable, it might help you shift the pattern. Or at least get one step closer to the kind of rest you're actually craving.