Not Enough Sleep Disruptive for ADHD Kids
Not Enough Sleep Disruptive for ADHD Kids By RICK NAUERT PHD Senior News Editor Review ed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on March 3, 2011 A sleep deficit of less than one hour of nightly sleep, over the course of six days, can cause children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to be wary and less attentive. Researchers writing in the journal Sleep discovered even moderate reductions in sleep duration can affect an ADHD child’s brain and their neurobehavioral functioning, which in turn appears to have a negative impact on their academic performance. Investigators discovered an average nightly sleep loss of about 55 minutes for six nights was associated with deteriorating performance including inattention, omission and depressed reaction time in children with attention deficit disorder. “Moderate sleep restriction leads to a detectable negative impact on the neurobehavioral functioning of children with ADHD and healthy controls, le...
