ADHD or Sleep Deprivation? Worth Another Look!

People use to call me the Nap Nazi. I was and am proud of that nickname. With three small children each a year apart and a teenage son, I didn't play around when it came to feeding my children and getting them to their beds for nap. Most days we played at the park with another group of moms with young children. We would eat a picnic that was packed with fruits, veggies and crackers then we would say good bye to our friends and be home by 11:45 am where we washed up, got a drink and headed for bed. The girls and I would sleep for about 2 hours. Bedtime started around 7:00pm. Full tummies and washed bodies were tucked into bed and the 'Lullaby Magic" cassette was plugged in and played loud enough that it could be heard in every room. The girls always slept till almost 7 am then the whole routine started over. We had read somewhere that habituating your child to the same music played every night at bedtime would be useful when change of location due to traveling. Sure enough we could load the kids into the car at 3:30 am, plug in that cassette and the girls would sleep until 8am or so, ready for us to pull over and eat breakfast. Funniest of all on a trip to Santa Fe New Mexico that same cassette worked on my teenage son. We could turn that tape on and he would go to sleep as quickly as the girls. I ran across a story in the Sunday Review http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/opinion/sunday/diagnosing-the-wrong-deficit.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=1& And was struck by this paragraph. "For some people — especially children — sleep deprivation does not necessarily cause lethargy; instead they become hyperactive and unfocused. Researchers and reporters are increasingly seeing connections between dysfunctional sleep and what looks like A.D.H.D., but those links are taking a long time to be understood by parents and doctors." Vatsal G. Thakkar is a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the N.Y.U. School of Medicine. It is no secret that sleep helps rejuvenate the mind and body. Just talk to some new mother who is awake every hour and a half with her newborn. Sometimes post part em depression is just lack of continuous uninterrupted sleep. When given 6 hours of sleep the mood is often raised and reason returns. Maybe it is just my husbands and my stellar parenting that raised polite young ladies who could sit still and quiet in a room. But I believe that the strict adherence to our sleep schedule (and an obsessive control of health eating) played a large part. At nearly 15 years old the youngest still puts herself to bed around 7 pm every night. As a teacher of 5th graders I routinely hear from them that they stay up till hours of the night. Some of the most distracted and unfocused are among these. Then there is the problem of the students who can't keep their eyes open and their heads raised. These kids are missing so much of the learning happening in the classroom. So before you take your child to the doctor for ADHD give this simple plan a try. Set a bedtime that will allow your child to get at least 10 hours of sleep. Your child will insist that they can't sleep, they will fight you tooth and nail. You are the parent. Put your foot down. The second crucial step is to wake them up around the same time every day. 6 am on school days, no later than 7 am on weekends. Retrain their body clock and you might be surprised at how much calmer and nicer you child can be. WAKE UP AMERICA! Our kids need to sleep!