Children with ADHD and sleep.

Attention Defficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a common condition that begins in childhood and may persist into adulthood. Children with ADHD typically have trouble sitting still, staying focused, and/or controlling their behavior and emotions, which can lead to poor social skills, isolation, dependence, and poor performance in school.

ADHD is linked with a variety of sleep problems. For example, one recent study found that children with ADHD had higher rates of daytime sleepiness than children without ADHD. Another study found that 50% of children with ADHD had signs of sleep disordered breathing, compared to only 22% of children without ADHD. Research also suggests that restless legs syndrome and periodic leg movement syndrome are also common in children with ADHD.

In general, sleep deprivation is a problem among children. A 2004 "Sleep in America" poll, more than two-thirds of children experience one or more sleep problems at least a few nights a week. For children with ADHD, poor sleep (too little sleep or symptoms of sleep disorders) may profoundly impact ADHD symptoms. In fact, one study found that treating sleep problems may be enough to eliminate attention and hyperactivity issues for some children.


Children who experience sleep deficit may be moody, emotionally explosive, and/or aggressive as a result.In one study involving 2,463 children aged 6-15, children with sleep problems were more likely to be inattentive, hyperactive, impulsive, and display oppositional behaviours.

Treating sleep problems in children and adults with ADHD may improve symptoms and quality of life.

If you would like help to improve your child's sleep, Contact Dream-Angus.com

Sleep and the sensory strategies.

Every child can learn to sleep regardless of physical handicap or mental disability. Children with sensory impairment may require a more detailed plan and children with developmental delay or disability often experience more profound difficulties in settling and maintaining sleep.

Routine is a very important part of forming regular patterns in children's behaviour. Routines are reassuring touchstones in every child's day. Children who have a different understanding of the world value routines even more than average. In an uncertain world where every day brings new challenges, routine reminds the child of the time of day, and leads to the expectancy of fixed events. Bed and wake time should be the most fixed of all the events in the child's day. Routines built to ensure a calm and responsive reaction to bedtime and wake time help the child to cope and understand the actions that are expected and follow on from them.

For sensory impaired children a bedtime routine that starts at the same time EVERY night is vital. Ensuring that the hour before bedtime is spent in calming activities without recourse to playstations or television, enjoying quiet calming activities help cue sleep.

Using a weighted blanket, flannel sheets, giving deep pressure contact or making a snug place in the bed using pillows or, a sleeping bag makes a child feel "held" and comforted which is relaxing and prepares the body and mind for sleep. If a light is required it should not be bright but a soft dim light is more calming.

Limiting the time for each pre bed activity helps acceptance of that activity. White noise and story tapes have their place in this and are very soothing for some children. The child who learns to achieve simple tasks with encouragement and by themselves gains in confidence.
The rituals which form part of the cues for sleeping and waking also help instil a sense of confidence and self awareness in the child.

There is no reason to endure sleep deficit when it is entirely possible to alter a sleep behaviour with a good plan and committment to following through. Sleep deficit doesn't just affect the child but the whole family.

Contact Dream-Angus.com for information and support to improve your child's sleep

Routine, Routine Routine

A number of recent studies have looked at sleep behaviours and routines in both adults and children and throughout the investigations one thing has been highlighted as singularly important, and that is, routine.

Adults have a short pre bed routine which they complete regardless of where they are, at home, away on holiday or on a business trip. We all have a short pre bed routine which cue's our individual body clocks. This is our reminder to ourselves that it is time to sleep, time to rest and renew so that we can face the coming day. Adults can rationalise their behaviour, children are at the mercy of their parents.

We are our children's teachers and teaching children the cues to help them sleep and rest at appropriate times is one of life's important lessons. Children learn very early in life to expect certain things to follow from parents actions. Routine is part of a child's security in the environment and helps the processes of learning about the world and one's place in it. Children associate certain actions with outcomes and as they grow and gain awareness they find reassurance in the stability of home through the routines learned there. This makes the pre bed routine particularly important because if it is a good routine it encourages sound sleep. All is well with the world.

Children who have no regular pre bed routine are slower to relax into sleep and often wake regularly in the night. Sleep deficit in a child makes for confrontational behaviour, poor concentration and increased irritability. Some children who have had a long history of sleep deficit are even occasionally misdiagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Yet, once a simple pre bed routine is introduced and maintained, all the irritations of living with a sleep deprived child dissappear and an altogether much more social and pleasant being emerges.

The greatest difficulty for adults seems to be the introduction and maintenance of such a routine. This is why it is so much easier to start building a routine with a young child, even at 3-4 months children can recognise the difference between night and day, which makes this is a very good time to start a pre bed routine.

If you have a child who has a sleep deficit contact Dream-Angus we can help you resolve the issues and improve your child's sleep.

Last snack to promote sleep.

We give our babies a last feed before bed, and send our children off to bed, often with a last snack, to ensure that they do not go to bed hungry. After all a hungry child is unlikely to settle quickly to sleep. What we offer our children, and indeed what we choose for our own supper, can directly affect the nights sleep.
Recently it has been proven that a snack which is high in protein encourages us to stay alert longer than a high carbohydrate snack. This is because one amino-acid called Tryptophan, which calms the brain, promotes sleep is less available in some foods compared to others. When you pair tryptophan with carbohydrates and calcuim then you are offering the brain not only the calming effect of the tryptophan but the calcium which encorages it's uptake.

So, what does make a good bedtime snack?

• Warm milk and half a turkey or peanut butter sandwich.
• Whole grain,low sugar cereal with low fat milk (whole milk for children)
• A banana and a cup of camomile tea
• Granola with yoghurt

Sleepy, Dopey and Grumpy, (sleep disorders in puberty and adolescence).

Around the time of puberty onset the previous sleep wake cycle is known to be physiologically delayed by about 2 hours. This later sleep onset and wake time than in middle childhood is a result of the pubertal hormonal influences on the circadian sleep wake cycle and on the secretions of melatonin.
The child's sleep needs do not differ dramatically, this should still be 9-9.5 hours, but many children at this stage only have 7-7.25 hours of sleep. This results in a considerable sleep deficit. Adolescents are recognised as having a decreased daytime awareness and some studies suggest that many teens function for a good part of the day in a "twilight zone". This is not dissimilar from an individual with Narcolepsy.

External factors which impact on this sleep include;-

• Early school start time
• Homework
• After school jobs
• Extracurricular activities

High achievers and children with chronic medical issues or psychiatric problems such as depression, are at particularly high risk of developing sleep disorders. It is suggested that the prevalence of sleep disorders in this group may be as high as 20%. Chronic sleep deficit in this age group leads to significant negative neurobehavioural consequenses such as;-

• Negative impact on mood
• Vigilance
• Motivation
• Reaction time
• Memory
• Attention

It is very important that at this critical time children maintain good sleep hyigene and regular sleep wake times which will strengthen the circadian rhythm.