This is a really weird topic! For example, I understand that Ritalin is used mostly as a stimulant and can be used to treat some cases of narcolepsy.
But, according to a psychiatric doctor I spoke to, some people take it to help them fall asleep.
But, according to a psychiatric doctor I spoke to, some people take it to help them fall asleep.
My resting heart rate is pretty high, but if I do any intelectual work wahtsoever my heart rate is around 95bpm.
RItalin analogues(in therapeutic doses) bring my heart rate to 60bpm when doing intelectual work while sitting on a desk -- during my deepest sleep my heart rate is 67bpm.
My own bro-science explanation is that I compensate my ADHD with anxiety -- when I'm anxious, I can focus just fine; some stimulants allow me to focus without the anxiety and that's why I feel deep calm and reduced heart rate while using them.
I was having quite severe insomnia when I was younger and it all cleared around the time I was diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed stimulants. My insomnia doesn't seem to return when I'm on holidays or during weekends, periods which I usually don't take any medication.
I asked my doctor about it, and he said it could be related, but it could also just be that I grew out of it, or any number of other reasons. He did say that some doctors was been experimenting with very low doses before going to bed with various degree of success. But it was a high risk that these people was suffer from some kind of undiagnosed variant of ADHD or another where insomnia typically is a comorbid disorder, like bipolar disorder.
Exhaustion is not the mechanism by which stimulants calm people with ADHD, as far as we understand it. Very approximately their internal world is less stimulating than that find restful so they’re constantly looking for more stimulation to reach a pleasant level. The stimulants let them reach that level without more environmental stimulation. One of my friends doesn’t drink anything with caffeine in it because it puts him to sleep.