Why is waking up hard with ADHD?
Research links ADHD with sleep problems. The cause is often the sleep, not the alarm.
- A 2019 review reports that delayed sleep phase disorder is present in 73 to 78% of children and adults with ADHD. With a delayed sleep phase, your body clock runs late. You fall asleep late, and the alarm rings during your biological night.
- A 2018 review reports that sleep disorders are common with ADHD, and that they are often not assessed and not treated.
- Too little sleep makes sleep inertia worse. See what sleep inertia is and how long it lasts.
An alarm cannot correct a late body clock or a sleep disorder. Speak to a doctor if you sleep badly or cannot wake up for weeks.
Which wake-up problem is yours?
| Your problem | Alarm type that fits | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| You do not hear the alarm. | A louder alarm, a vibration on the wrist, a bed shaker or a wake-up light. | A phone speaker has a maximum volume. You may need hardware. |
| You hear the alarm and turn it off without memory. | An alarm that needs a task or a spoken answer before it stops. | You can learn a simple task and do it half asleep. |
| You press snooze many times. | An alarm without a snooze button. | You can still stay in bed after you stop it. |
| You get up and go back to bed. | An alarm that makes you leave the bedroom, for example a photo or a barcode scan in another room. | It takes effort to set up, and it can be stressful. |
| You are awake, but you cannot start. | An alarm that tells you the first step of your day, or a plan that you made the evening before. | It gives direction. It does not give energy. |
More than one row can apply to you. Start with the row that costs you the most time.
Are task alarms stressful?
They can be. A 2024 study followed 373 users of the Alarmy app for two weeks. Task-based alarms were related to nervousness in the morning. The study is observational, so it does not show the cause. Two of its authors work for the company that makes Alarmy.
If a task alarm makes your mornings tense, try a different type. Talking alarm or mission alarm compares the two.
What helps apart from the alarm?
- Keep the same wake-up time on each day, also on free days.
- Decide the evening before what you do first after you get up. Write it down or say it aloud.
- Put the things for your first step where you can see them.
- Speak to your doctor about your sleep. Sleep problems with ADHD can be treated.
Where does Waker fit?
Waker is an iPhone alarm app that fits the rows "you press snooze" and "you cannot start". It has no snooze button. When your alarm rings, you tap “Talk to Waker” and have a voice conversation about your day. In the evening, you can tell Waker what tomorrow holds, and the morning call starts with that plan. Waker is not a medical product, and no study has tested it with people who have ADHD. If you do not hear your alarm, Waker is not the right alarm for you.
Common questions
Is there an alarm app made for ADHD?
Some apps use the term ADHD in their marketing. No study shows that one alarm app works better for people with ADHD than another. Choose by your wake-up problem, not by the label.
Why do I turn off my alarm and not remember it?
You can stop an alarm before you are fully awake. This happens more often when you sleep too little or wake during deep sleep. See why you turn off your alarm in your sleep.
Does a louder alarm help with ADHD?
It helps if your problem is that you do not hear the alarm. It does not help if you hear the alarm and turn it off. See which alarm app works for heavy sleepers.
When should I see a doctor?
Speak to a doctor if you cannot fall asleep until very late, if you are very sleepy in the daytime, or if you miss work or class because you cannot wake up. These can be signs of a sleep disorder.
Sources
- The role of the circadian system in the etiology and pathophysiology of ADHD: time to redefine ADHD?. Bijlenga and colleagues, ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders, 2019.
- Sleep disorders in patients with ADHD: impact and management challenges. Wajszilber, Santisteban and Gruber, Nature and Science of Sleep, 2018.
- Understanding morning emotions by analyzing daily wake-up alarm usage. Oh and colleagues, JMIR Human Factors, 2024.
- Sleep inertia: current insights. Hilditch and McHill, Nature and Science of Sleep, 2019.