A study cited in the journal Sleep involving 15 children between the ages of 7 and 11 who suffer from ADD (ADHD) suggests that sleep problems go hand in hand with ADD.
The principal investigator, Reut Gruber who is the director of the Attention, Behaviour and Sleep Lab at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute says:
"I do not believe that sleep per se is the cause of ADHD, but it may make the symptoms worse in children with sleep problems. There are reports in the literature in which treating sleep problems led to improvement in ADHD symptoms but I suspect that these results were seen in children with sleep apnea. More research needs to be done in order to determine if sleep affects ADHD children with no primary sleep disorder."
Additional studies also will be required to examine whether shorter sleep duration in children with ADHD is associated with ADHD-like symptoms, including behavioral problems and poor neurocognitive functioning.
If a functional alteration of sleep in children with ADHD is confirmed, it may be possible to develop therapeutic approaches for optimizing and individualizing the children's sleep regimes.
Journal reference: Sleep Disturbances in Prepubertal Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Home Polysomnography Study. Sleep, March 1, 2009
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