Myomancy ADHD, Dyslexia and Autism

Another piece of research points to a connection between sleep and ADHD.
Sleep- Disordered Breathing (SDB) is where sleep is disturbed because the patient has problems breathing and they awaken. Snoring, a symptom of SDB, is extremely frequent in children, and affects 18-20% of infants, 7-13% of 2-8 year-old children, and 3-5% of older children. The theory behind the link with ADHD is that as the child sleep is disturbed night after night, they feel extremely drowsy in the classroom and become hyperactive as a way of staying awake during the day.

The new research studied children having adenotonsillectomy (their tonsils removed). This is thought to help breathing and thus reduce the amount of snoring. If distrubed sleep is a factor in ADHD then improving the child’s breathing should reduce the amount of hyperactivity.

Subjects who had an adenotonsillectomy, in comparison to controls, were more hyperactive on well-validated parent rating scales, inattentive on cognitive testing, sleepy on the Multiple Sleep Latency Test, and likely to have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder … as judged by a child psychiatrist. In contrast, 1 year later, the 2 groups showed no significant differences in the same measures. Subjects who had an adenotonsillectomy had improved substantially in all measures, and control subjects improved in none.

This doesn’t mean you should rush out and have your kid’s tonsils removed. However if you child snores or shows other evidence of poor sleep patterns, then seeking out an expert on sleep is a sensible course of action.

Study Abstract: Sleep-Disordered Breathing, Behavior, and Cognition in Children Before and After Adenotonsillectomy

Previously on Myomancy: The Less Children Sleep, the Worse They Do At School, Sleep and Television, You Are Feeling Sleepy…, Snoring, Sleep and Hyperactivity