A new study supports the claim that children with ADHD don’t sleep as well as other kids, reports HealthDay.
The researchers recruited 76 children with ADHD for their study. The average age of the group was almost 10 years old. The researchers also recruited 25 children without ADHD (the “control” group).
Kids with ADHD slept about 45 minutes less a night than those without ADHD. The children with ADHD also took longer than the other children to fall asleep at night. During the day, however, the children with ADHD fell asleep faster than those in the control group, the investigators found.
At first, the researchers thought this was a surprising finding, because of the hyperactivity that is common in ADHD children. But, they speculated that sleep problems may be contributing to the ADHD, and that the hyperactivity aspect of the disorder might be the brain’s way of compensating for not being able to doze off during school.
The study findings confirm something “that’s been known for a while,” said Brandon Korman, chief of neuropsychology at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami.
