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The ADHD bedtime routine reset: a parent's guide

By Aaron Wilson, FounderPreliminaryEarly or limited evidence. Suggestive, not settled. How we label evidence · 1-min read · updated September 8, 2026

If your child or teen with ADHD struggles to sleep, an adhd bedtime routine built on consistent sleep hygiene and simple behavioural steps has the strongest evidence behind it. In a trial of children aged 5 to 13, a brief two-session program brought small benefits that lasted a full year by parent report (Sciberras 2019).

Does an adhd bedtime routine actually help?

The best evidence comes from a randomised controlled trial of 244 children aged 5 to 13 (average age 10.1) who had ADHD and a moderate or severe behavioural sleep problem, run through paediatric practices in Victor

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Sources

  1. Sciberras E, Mulraney M, Mensah F, Oberklaid F, Efron D, Hiscock H. "Sustained impact of a sleep intervention and moderators of treatment outcome for children with ADHD: a randomised controlled trial." Psychological Medicine, 2019 · doi:10.1017/s0033291718004063
  2. Sciberras E, Mulraney M, Heussler H, Rinehart N, Schuster T, Gold L. "Does a brief, behavioural intervention, delivered by paediatricians or psychologists improve sleep problems for children with ADHD? Protocol for a cluster-randomised, translational trial." BMJ Open, 2017 · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014158
  3. Becker S, Duraccio K, Sidol C, Fershtman C, Byars K, Harvey A. "Impact of a Behavioral Sleep Intervention in Adolescents With ADHD: Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Effectiveness From a Pilot Open Trial." Journal of Attention Disorders, 2021 · doi:10.1177/10870547211056965
  4. Mari Hysing, Ove Heradstveit, Allison G. Harvey, Sondre Aasen Nilsen, Tormod Bøe, Børge Sivertsen. "Sleep problems among adolescents within child and adolescent mental health services. An epidemiological study with registry linkage." European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2020 · doi:10.1007/s00787-020-01676-4
  5. Sivertsen B, Harvey A, Pallesen S, Hysing M. "Mental health problems in adolescents with delayed sleep phase: results from a large population‐based study in N orway." Journal of Sleep Research, 2014 · doi:10.1111/jsr.12254

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