The Sleep-A.D.D. Connection
October 2nd, 2009 by Dawn McMullan
The symptoms of sleep deprivation often mirror those of ADD and ADHD. And kids who already have problems with attention and hyperactivity become more inattentive and hyper if they don’t get the right amount of sleep.
“The first question that a doctor should be asking when a child is suspected of having ADHD … is how does that child sleep,” Watenpaugh says. “The literature shows over half of these problems can be traced to some problem with sleep.”
Why would a sleepy child be hyper? If you have to ask, you probably don’t have an ADD child.
“Children and adults are, of course, very different in many ways,” Watenpaugh says. “Sleep problems in adults usually lead to daytime sleepiness. In children, especially hyper kids, their brains are so busy, they have no interest in sleep. What they do to cope is fidget. They move to stay awake and it’s not just motor activity. Their brain is hyperactive. There are a lot of kids out there right now on medication for ADHD problems when all they really have is a sleep problem.”
Pearson agrees, saying that adults often don’t make the connection because when we’re sleepy, we might just take a nap.
“Daytime sleepiness in children is not dozing off on the desk,” she says. “It’s fidgeting, hyperactivity, and difficulty playing close attention to schoolwork. Sleepy kids will sleep in a car, but otherwise they are fighting sleep, doing whatever they can to stay awake, which is typically bothering their desk neighbor or sibling.”
Overscheduling leads to problems
Children often don’t get enough sleep because they are overscheduled, which also leads to problems with ADD/ADHD kids. Dr. David Clark, a chiropractic neurologist, agrees with the connection, but says it’s a chicken-and-egg scenario.
“I could say 80 percent of kids with ADD have sleep problems,” he says. “Whether one causes the other, it’s hard to say that. Sleep problems are extremely common in kids with ADHD problems. If you have right hemisphere problems [the section of the brain that is under-stimulated in kids with attention and/or hyperactivity problems], you’re going to have a problem going to sleep.”
Remember the HPA axis (see main story)? Well, in a child predisposed to attention issues, the effects of sleep deprivation on the brain magnifies all his or her symptoms. So it’s difficult to see whether sleep deprivation causes attention issues or attention issues cause sleep problems. What isn’t in dispute is that the two are connected. The take-away: Your ADD/ADHD child needs more sleep than you think.