Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Sleep Deprivation and Issues

I wasn't sure whether or not to put this question here or in the research forum.

Does anyone know if a study has been done on a correlation between a gifted child's lack of sleep and a diagnosis of ADD, ADHD, ODD, etc?

I hear about "pleasantly gifted" on here. I assume that means a child without these issues. Are those children getting the full "recommended" amount of sleep?

In other words, does typical grouchiness from a long-term lack of sleep manifest itself in gifted children as one of those issues?

I'm wondering if the brains of those particular gifted children react to sleep deprivation in this manner.

I'm just curious.

I do know that symptoms of ADD and ADHD are correlated with chronic poor sleep in children. I have also read that ADD and ADHD cause sleep problems. If anyone has studied gifted children in particular I haven't seen it.

We had many sleep challenges over the years. I think amoung gifted children there are some who truely need less sleep and some who have an especially difficult time winding down or staying asleep who do suffer the effect of undersleep. Lots of parents suffer along with them.
((Shrugs))
Grinity

None of my kids have needed as much sleep as my friends' kids, as in at 5pm when all kids are a bit cranky my children would often be LESS cranky than their little friends who got 2-4 hrs more sleep per 24hrs than my kids, and their response to missing an hour of nap time was much less dramatic than their friends'. As well as needing less sleep than other people's children they have also had trouble winding down and learning to settle.

However, DD9yrs, my eldest, is the one we are having investigated for ADHD-i was somehow "more" of everything than her sisters, harder to settle, harder to stay asleep, no sense that she was tired. The first time she declared herself tired, took herself to bed and went to sleep she was 6yrs old, it was the day we moved house and she was hours late for bed (because the bed was still being built). But we still nearly fell of our chairs in shock, it's still a rare event 3.5yrs later. We did go through stages when she was getting less sleep than she needed in order for her to get enough sleep, as crazy as that sounds. From about 2yrs if she napped for even 30 mins during the day she would be up for an extra 3hrs at night. So we deprived her of naps that her behaviour showed she needed or she actually ended up with less sleep in a 24hr cycle than if we letter her nap. That was a rough 6-12 months.

I feel pretty strongly though that her sleep issues are caused by or co-morbid with whatever her other exceptionality/ies are rather than sleep issues being the cause of the problem. I am absolutely certain there is something going on with her, I am just not sure how much luck we will have of getting it picked up. Oh, and she had retained her moro reflex, along with most of the other primitive reflexes, they are no fairly well integrated and she does sleep a lot better.

I don't know about studies. But I have a PG child with ADD that has never slept well, but then developed anxiety and insomnia. The anxiety was unmedicated, but we did therapy.

As the anxiousness and the insomnia worsened, the child became grouchy, and at that point we saw a psychiatrist.

We were told that depression presents itself in young children as grouchiness. An anxious person can become depressed when anxiety is untreated. The doctor's response was to improve the mood by treating the anxiety, and then address the ADD.

So many of these problems overlap; anxiety does make ADD worse. And sometimes anxiety is misdiagnosed as ADD/ADHD, and sometimes people have both diagnoses.

I found this article after my 13-year-old had a harder time memorizing lines in his month long musical theater camp this summer when he had always in the past been able to memorize his lines faster than most of the other kids. He was only getting five or six hours of sleep at night because he had a really hard time sleeping in the painful brace he has to wear and although melatonin would make him a little sleepy it wasn't enough to help him relax enough to fall asleep when he hurt.

http://nymag.com/news/features/38951/index2.html

He did manage to memorize all of his lines but he very definitely had more trouble concentrating when he was so tired, and I think it probably looked a little like ADD.

When the play was over he went back to sleeping later in the mornings and his temporary "ADD" disappeared.

He has always been able to get away with one or two nights without sleep. It is when he gets less than six hours of sleep for more than three nights that he starts having trouble.

I have an even harder time with lack of sleep than my son does and when he doesn't sleep I don't sleep well. I get very grouchy and depressed when I don't get enough sleep and it makes my anxiety worse.

You may be very interested in this:

http://www.goodparentgoodchild.com/adhd-study


The actual study hasn't been published yet. But IIRC, there is definitely evidence that kids with disturbed or reduced sleep are more likely to be diagnosed with various behavioral problems.

FWIW, my DD seems to need MORE sleep than other children her age, not less. She is still going to bed by 8 (she wakes up around 7) at age 7 and a half. We really guard her sleep because it makes a huge difference in her behavior.

Ultramarina my understanding is that 10-11 hrs would be the normal amount of sleep for a 7 yr old? A 7 yr old should be going to bed by 8 if they are going to school and need to be up in time. That is when my kids go to bed and most people I know consider that to be late, sending their kids to bed by 7-7:30?

I think 10 hours is what's recommended for this age? MANY, maybe most, parents I know have kids who get less, and DD complains that her bedtime is earlier than everybody else's (which I actually do believe). Could just be my peer group.

Okay, so, from WebMd:

"7-12 Years Old: 10 - 11 hours per day

At these ages, with social, school, and family activities, bedtimes gradually become later and later, with most 12-years-olds going to bed at about 9 p.m. There is still a wide range of bedtimes, from 7:30 to 10 p.m., as well as total sleep times, from 9 to 12 hours, although the average is only about 9 hours."

I see 10 to 11 recommended on the web generally for this age. I'd say most people I know have kids getting 9-10. I guess you're right that DD's sleep needs are withing range, though, But she certainly isn't one of these gifted kids who needs LESS. I think she'd benefit from going to bed at 7:30, honestly, but that would really chafe her. Her 3yo brother goes to bed at 7.

I might add that her light goes out at 8 on the dot, 7:45 if I can get away with it, and she is out like a light. So it's definitely AT 8.