ADHD Misdiagnosis - Missing Sleep

The real root cause of ADD/ADHD has been looked at in our past articles is misdiagnosis. The bottom line of much of that was said is that it is very important to look deeper for other possible answers to the symptoms resembling ADD before just accepting diagnosis. This is because it is, sadly, often the case that those making a positive results have something to get from it.

There are a few instances in which ADD/ADHD has been misapplied to a child because of an extreme cause such as a bacterial infection that causes similar behavior which we will discuss in more depth next week. Other situations have a root cause that is much more boring.

This is perhaps nowhere more true than in the case of the role of sleep (or rather the lack thereof) on general health and behavior. Millions of mothers throughout the ages have sworn by the fact that their kid's behavior gets worse for every extra hour of sleep that they did not get. It turns out that modern science is confirming this bit 'folk wisdom'.

One of the most interesting pieces of research on the effects of a lack of proper sleep is particularly relevant for our discussion of ADD/ADHD misdiagnosis. The Finnish national Institute of Health and Welfare along with the University of Helsinki ran the research. Under the microscope were the sleeping patterns and the behavior of 280 healthy seven and eight year olds.

The simple question was the following: Are healthy children who get too little sleep more likely to display the symptoms generally associated with ADD/ADHD? The simple answer: Absolutely!

Researchers measured the sleeping patterns of the children who participated in the study in two ways, one subjective and the other objective. For the "subjective" section parents were asked to complete a panel of questions regarding their children's daily sleep habits.

In addition to that they tried to note how long the children slept each night for seven straight days. This was done by asking them to wear actigraphs (movement measurers) to determine how long they actually rested for.

Parents were to also note other areas of their child's behavior besides sleep using a commonly used method in diagnosing ADD/ADHD. The results of this research strike a powerful blow for common sense. It can be summarized as follows:

- Most parents seriously overestimate the time that their children actually rest. The time when they are trying to fall alseep or are just laying there are not taken into consideration.

Those with an average nightly sleep of less than 7.7 hours scored higher in hyper and impulsive behavior when measured by the monitors. Being labeled ADD/ADHD is the more likely scenario.

This study is one of the first that actually confirms something all parents know almost instinctively: Lack of sleep leads to little Johnny 'acting out' the next morning! If this continues over a few weeks a trend gets established and Johnny is at serious risk of being labeled as ADD/ADHD!

Dr. Juulia Paavonen who was in charge of the study lays her finger securely on both this problem and its solution: "We were able to show that short sleep duration and sleeping difficulties are related to behavioral symptoms of ADHD.

The results showed that keeping a normal sleep schedule for children plays a major part in avoiding many of the behavioral symtoms. Just an extra half hour each night for a child has show results in better behavior."

With all of the things mentioned a parent on top of things should always look at the sleep patterns of their child before venturing into the ADD/ADHD world. It is difficult to pin an exact figure on 'enough' as the amount of sleep needed for optimum performance will differ from person to person.

Eight hours and more should nonetheless be seen as a very good benchmark to work from. It is likely that your child will need more sleep than this, but it is unlikely that he or she will need less.

Helping children to 'make the numbers' when it comes to sleep can be very difficult but it is a discipline that you will have to learn. A bit of planning and the establishment of a firm bedtime routine could help you in this regard. The results of experiencing good behavior is a large payoff.

It could even be that paying attention to sleeping patterns is the one thing that helps you to avoid the radical and life changing consequences of a formal ADD/ADHD diagnosis. So next time you deal with problems of hyperactivity and impulsiveness your first response should perhaps be to 'sleep on it' before doing anything else!