Children who have symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) actually may be sleep-deprived, according to researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Sleep Laboratory.
Doctors should consider that possibility before prescribing Ritalin and other ADHD drugs, they suggest.
An estimated 8 percent of US children suffer from ADHD, according to the US Centers for Disease Control, and more than half of them are being treated with drugs.
ADHD is characterized by overalertness and nervousness, with affected children being fidgety and overstimulated.
Paradoxically, the use of stimulant medications like Ritalin seems to be the most effective method for treating ADHD symptoms in the majority of children.
Fighting to Stay Awake?
Dr. Giora Pillar wondered whether some children diagnosed with ADHD might simply be sleepy. Their excessive motor activity could be a tool to stay alert, he conjectured, which might explain the effectiveness of stimulants that increase activity in the central nervous system.
“Sleepy children, unlike sleepy adults, may demonstrate hyperactivity and attention-deficit behavior rather than excessive daytime sleepiness,” Pillar explained.
“This theory is supported by parental reports that children, when extremely tired, tend to be cranky, overactive, angry and aggressive,” he pointed out.
Sleep Apnea
Pillar and colleagues studied 66 children with an average age of 12. Of these, 34 already had been diagnosed with ADHD, and the rest served as a control group. The ADHD-diagnosed children had significantly higher levels of sleepiness during the day than those in the control group, the researchers found.
Half of the test subjects with ADHD (vs. 22 percent of the control group) suffered from some degree of sleep-disordered breathing, such as sleep apnea, which is characterized by interruptions in breathing that last 10 seconds or more, occurring at least five times per hour during sleep.
Limb Movement Disorder
Fifteen percent (vs. none in the control group) had Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD), which is relatively uncommon among children.
Studies have shown that treatment of these sleep disorders in children often leads to substantial improvements in behavior and cognitive achievements, Pillar said, as well as a significant reduction in irritability, bad moods, anger and fear.
For example, school performance, which is low in children with sleep apnea, has been found to improve markedly following the removal of adenoids and tonsils to correct the disorder.
Enforce Good Sleeping Habits
The researchers urge parents of hyperactive and attention-deficit children diagnosed with sleep disorders to have breathing irregularities and limb movements treated, to enforce good sleeping habits, and to avoid giving them caffeinated drinks at night.
Only if these steps do not work, they say, should parents consider medication for ADHD.
The researchers’ findings originally were published in the February 2004 issue of the journal Sleep.
Copyright 2005 Daily News Central
Rita Jenkins is a health journalist for Daily News Central, an online publication that delivers breaking news and reliable health information to consumers, healthcare providers and industry professionals: http://www.dailynewscentral.com
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August 31st, 2008 at 6:14 am
I don’t have kids w/ ADHD but I have it (am an now an adult). I was also an only child and didn’t go out much (allergic to most things that grow and bees… you can imagine how much “fun” summertime was for me).
Kids w/ ADHD are often times very intelligent – do you have a local university that might offer “kid-friendly-activities”? I lived near a college and the students had lots of stuff for the community to do -piano and other musical/drama kinds of “camp”, astronomy (planetarium), history (and dinosaurs!) — lots of things like that because the grad students had to put in so many hours doing that kind of stuff to get their grad degrees. You could also try the local library – lots of activities for kids.
Now, you may be thinking “I want to get my kid OUTSIDE – what’s with recommending all of the indoor stuff?!?” but they are good places to get your child interested/stimulated about something new – and doing it with other kids around will give him an opportunity to meet some new kids. Then you can set up skating parties (roller, ice or skateboard -depending on where you live), or take a trip to a petting zoo – if he likes it, maybe he could help out and feed the animals on a regular basis or maybe 4H would work for him? You could also try Cub-Scouts / Boy Scouts.
Maybe he needs to get used to being around adults before he can do well with kids his own age? Sometimes direction from adults is better taken from STRANGERS than from family – and they can help him learn more about social interaction/expectations. Is he old enough to start doing some basic yard work for neighbors and getting paid for it? I’d LOVE to have someone weed my front and side gardens and would be happy to pay well for it! Or – could he start walking some dogs for the elderly neighbors?
OK – enough, I just wanted to speak up because if you find a place/some things that stimulate him, he’ll naturally want to be with others who are the same – and it’s a lot easier to push a group of little boys out into the yard than it is to watch 1 little boy out in the yard all by himself.
Good Luck – I hope that you can find a solution and think it’s great that you care enough to jump in on this!
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August 31st, 2008 at 6:16 am
I have a nephew with Aspergers and ADHD, he never wants to leave the house!
He’s 11 and is totally fine with just playing video games all day. My sister had enrolled him in Karate and it worked for a little while before it was a nightmare to get him to go. He’s been involved in sports, but he is such a klutz and clumsy.
It’s really hard, but she keeps trying to find something (or someone!) that will spark an intrest for him. He’s a science freak so he takes frequent trips to museums and things like that.
It’s to the point now that she doesn’t force him into anything, although he does have to spend at least an hour outside everyday (weather permitting of course) When he is outside he ends up talking with the kids in the neighborhood and ends up involved in games or whatever is going on at the moment.