Welcome to a special episode of the ADHD experts podcast from Attitude. Today we are pleased to bring you a feature article from the fall 2025 issue of Attitude magazine. To listen to the full issue and receive future issues, subscribe now at Attitudemag.com backslash subscribe. And now for today's

story. The Disorder That Never Sleeps by J.J. Sandra Kuweig, M.D., Ph.D. With ADHD, we think of

challenges that appear from dawn to dusk, distractibility, impulsivity,

emotional dysregulation.

A growing body of research, however, has discovered that some of ADHD's most impairing challenges

emerge at and after bedtime.

Though these challenges relate to sleep,

their consequences reverberate around the clock.

Whether an early bird, night owl, or something in between,

each of us has an internal clock that determines our sleep rhythm.

This clock, located in the midbrain, is heritable, and it starts

ticking in childhood. Because it directs the rhythm of all bodily organs, it has far-reaching

influence. Most people with ADHD, up to 80%, are night owls, with a significantly later sleep rhythm than non-ADHD individuals.

My colleagues and I quantified this discrepancy through a sleep study in which we measured the timing

of melatonin production in the saliva of people with and without ADHD.

When this naturally occurring hormone is secreted by the brain, it primes the body for sleep

about two hours later, three hours later for people with ADHD.

Our findings reveal that melatonin was released at 9.30 p.m., with an estimated 11.30 p.m. sleep onset for non-A.D. people.

And at 11 p.m. with an estimated 2 a.m. sleep onset for people with ADHD.

In a world in which school and work obligations begin first thing in the morning,

a late bedtime can lead to significant problems. The optimal sleep duration for adults is 7 to 8 hours.

Because people with ADHD tend to go to sleep late, but must still wake early, they sleep just five to six hours on average.

...