Study aims to better understand sleep in children with ADHD

A new study to better understand sleep in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been launched by Nottingham Trent University – with parents of children with ADHD invited to take part. 

In the UK, more than 150,000 children between the age of six and 12 years old have ADHD, and around three in four of them also have sleep problems.

However, it is not always clear whether some core features of ADHD, such as fidgeting, are actually being caused due to the condition or lack of sleep.

Now, as part of research funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research to develop a digital sleep intervention for children with ADHD, researchers at NTU are developing an ADHD specific sleep questionnaire that will help parents to identify sleep problems in their children, independent of their ADHD.

Once developed the questionnaire will help parents to better report sleep problems in their children with ADHD and provide more accurate information for clinicians so that they can provide appropriate care for those families.

Researcher Professor David Daley, Head of Applied Psychological Practice at NTU’s School of Social Sciences, said: “The most common sleep problem in children with ADHD is chronic insomnia. This means problems falling and staying asleep. Bad sleep can have an impact on daytime behaviour and schoolwork, and generally make their quality of life worse. It can also affect their parents’ sleep.

“Despite this, professionals who see children with ADHD are not taught much about sleep and often struggle to identify sleep problems in children with ADHD.

“One of the many challenges is that ADHD behaviours and sleep difficulties often look the same. For example, a core feature of ADHD is fidgeting, so children with ADHD are often moving, squirming, and touching things. One feature of sleep difficulties is restless legs, where restlessness and lack of comfort in your legs prevents you from falling asleep.

“How can a tired parent of a child with ADHD, at the end of a challenging day, tell the different between fidgeting caused by ADHD problem, or restless legs due to a sleep problem, especially when both behaviours are happening under the duvet?”

To take part in the study, parents will tell the researchers about themselves and their child’s ADHD and sleep behaviour via two ten-minute surveys, eight weeks apart. To find out more or to take part visit the website or email lucy.smith@ntu.ac.uk