This sounds really interesting, but I never listen to podcasts because my auditory processing sucks, I read so much faster than people can talk, and my attention wavers. Listening to anything I can read is a waste of time for me. (Same with listening to anything where I can't read it or write it down, actually; I just don't retain it well.) Is there a written/transcribed version of this, or of the study in question?
I think the causation factor is probably often ADHD--> sleep problem. That poor kid probably gets tired out long before he actually goes to bed, but is too hyperfocused on the video games to stop playing, at least if he's anything like me. (As you might recall, my hyperfocus is worse than my inattention, and Adderall ended up doing more harm than good because it increased my hyperfocus and did not increase my control over what I focused on. I stayed hyperfocused on my computer for 32 hours. I felt like a meth addict.)
It could go partly the other way too, though; I know my sleep problems got worse (staying up very late into the night, often no stable sleep/wake cycle) when I started university, which was also when my ADHD started giving me more trouble. The state of affairs in high school wasn't tenable, though; I was chronically sleep-deprived, and I think that contributed to my university burnout. Like the ADHD kids you've known, I was never a good sleeper. I can't remember a time when I really had a "healthy" sleep cycle.
It definitely seems plausible to me that ADHD and sleep problems go together, whichever way the causation factor goes (and it could be both). I worry about parents trying to treat those sleep problems with harsher behavioural interventions, though, the way some less enlightened ones do with ADHD kids' other problems. Even watching (through LJ) you with Claire, I can't help thinking that these sleep problems aren't under the kids' or parents' control and that they're basically medical problems that we don't yet know how to treat. I hope people can soon figure out how to treat those problems in a therapeutic context, not in a way that's punitive to anyone (not saying you're being punitive to Claire, just that sleep problems are often considered a discipline issue).
no subject
I think the causation factor is probably often ADHD--> sleep problem. That poor kid probably gets tired out long before he actually goes to bed, but is too hyperfocused on the video games to stop playing, at least if he's anything like me. (As you might recall, my hyperfocus is worse than my inattention, and Adderall ended up doing more harm than good because it increased my hyperfocus and did not increase my control over what I focused on. I stayed hyperfocused on my computer for 32 hours. I felt like a meth addict.)
It could go partly the other way too, though; I know my sleep problems got worse (staying up very late into the night, often no stable sleep/wake cycle) when I started university, which was also when my ADHD started giving me more trouble. The state of affairs in high school wasn't tenable, though; I was chronically sleep-deprived, and I think that contributed to my university burnout. Like the ADHD kids you've known, I was never a good sleeper. I can't remember a time when I really had a "healthy" sleep cycle.
It definitely seems plausible to me that ADHD and sleep problems go together, whichever way the causation factor goes (and it could be both). I worry about parents trying to treat those sleep problems with harsher behavioural interventions, though, the way some less enlightened ones do with ADHD kids' other problems. Even watching (through LJ) you with Claire, I can't help thinking that these sleep problems aren't under the kids' or parents' control and that they're basically medical problems that we don't yet know how to treat. I hope people can soon figure out how to treat those problems in a therapeutic context, not in a way that's punitive to anyone (not saying you're being punitive to Claire, just that sleep problems are often considered a discipline issue).