While we all periodically struggle to achieve an effective balance between work, family and personal activities; adults with ADD/ADHD constantly feel like their lives are spiraling out of control. The balance that gives life stability never comes for adults with attention deficit disorders. The problem isn’t lack of self control or willpower; it’s a chemical problem in the brain’s management system. ADD/ADHD can affect anyone, although sufferers are six times more likely to have another learning or psychiatric disorder like depression or anxiety. Multiple psychiatric disorders can make correct diagnosis difficult and complicate treatment. Many adults remain undiagnosed and struggle with ADD/ADHD all their lives, never receiving the help they need.

Not all repercussions of ADD/ADHD are negative, however. Symptoms may also manifest themselves  as creativity, flexibility, adaptability, commitment or tremendous drive. Sufferers are also capable of hyperfocus, the intense concentration on a single task or problem that often leads to major creative breakthroughs or discoveries.

Help is available for adults with ADD/ADHD. Cognitive-behavioral therapy can help adults make positive changes in their daily habits that can help them improve attentiveness, control impulsive behaviors, decrease stress, and better manage their personal and professional lives. Some medications like the stimulant Ritalin may also help some patients. Support groups can provide encouragement and practical solutions to common daily problems.

A recent study by Mark Rapport, a psychology professor at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, suggests that it might be more effective to encourage ADHD children to fidget as much as they need to. Rapport spent four years meticulously recruiting, screening, and testing 23 boys aged 8 to 12. In a lengthy analysis of the results, Rapport found that ADHD children use movement to stay focused. Fidgeting may actually facilitate learning in children with ADHD. Just like the caffeine in coffee helps adults stay focused, jiggling, bouncing at their desks, swiveling in their chairs, swinging their feet, etc. may help ADHD children concentrate and do better in the classroom.

Children with ADHD, which affects 3% to 5% of U.S. children, have problems with short-term, or working memory, the part of the brain that temporarily stores the information needed to carry out immediate tasks. ADHD children process information differently than those without the disorder. A child without ADHD can remember and follow a series of brief directions like opening a book, turning to a certain page, and doing specified exercises. Children with ADHD lose focus part way through the instructions. They may only catch one or two in the series of instructions and wind up lost in the classroom.

Stimulants like Ritalin can augment short-term memory, making it easier for ADHD children to focus on tasks. But not all children respond equally to Ritalin, and some parents would prefer a drug-free solution. Rapport’s study, though small in scope, offers new methods for helping ADHD children focus in the classroom and succeed at school.

Interestingly, the study found that parents regularly over-reported the amount of sleep their children received compared to objectively measured results, suggesting both that most parents are unaware of their children’s actual wake-sleep cycles or that a “social desirability bias” promotes over-reporting. Despite such discrepancies, study results clearly found a direct, measurable, causal link between short sleep cycles and increased symptoms of ADHD.

“Even though we hypothesized that sleep duration would affect behavioral symptoms, we were somewhat surprised that the effect was so very, very clear,” principal researcher Dr. E. Juulia Paavonen told Medscape Psychiatry in an April 28, 2009, online article about the study.

The study found the lowest risk of developing ADHD symptoms among children who regularly received an average night’s sleep characterized by at least 7.7 to 9.4 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night. Parents who are able to help their children establish and maintain adequate sleep cycles of 8 to 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night may be able to significantly reduce their children’s risk of developing ADHD. In children who already exhibit symptoms of the disorder, maintaining adequate sleep patterns may help to control and/or alleviate symptoms, researchers believe. In an independent European study, lengthening children’s sleep cycles by just 30 minutes per night was found to significantly improve cognitive and attention behavior with observable improvement exhibited in less than one week.

Here are some things parents can do to help their children get the sleep they need:

• Establish a regular bedtime.
• Decrease activity about 30 minutes before bedtime.
• Ban TVs, video games and other over-stimulating activities from the bedroom.
• The bedroom should be comfortable — well ventilated and slightly cool with a nightlight.
• Establish a soothing bedtime routine — bath, brushing teeth, toileting, story time, prayers.

“There is a large amount of literature linking sleeping difficulties to behavioral symptoms,” principal researcher E. Juulia Paavonen, M.D., Ph.D. told Medscape Psychiatry in an April 28, 2009, online article about the study. “However, this study shows short sleep duration itself is related to behavioral symptoms, independent of sleeping difficulties.”

The study provides a potential key for the treatment of rising attention and cognitive performance issues among U.S. children. As many as one-third of American children do not receive an adequate amount of sleep.  While previous studies have indicated a probable link between sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, and the behavioral symptoms associated with ADHD, none of those studies included behavioral assessments. The Finish study is the first to specifically assess the effects of sleep length on behavioral issues in children and show a definite causal effect between lack of sleep and decreased attention span and cognitive performance.

The study evaluated the sleep habits and duration of 280 boys and girls with a mean age of 8.1 years. Assisted by the children’s parents, sleep journals logged when children went to bed, woke up and were allowed to leave their beds over seven-day intervals. Problems such as illness that could affect sleep quality were also recorded. Hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention symptoms were evaluated using the maternal ratings from the ADHD Rating Scale. Socioeconomic status, parental education and other demographic data were also considered. The majority of the test group (80.7%) were categorized as average sleepers, getting 7.7 to 9.4 hours of sleep per night. Short sleepers (9.3%) received less than 7.7 hours of sleep, while long sleepers (10%) got more than 9.4 hours of sleep.

Next time: Study recommendations: What parents can do.