ADHD/ADD is not a disorder. I said that before. It's a difference. But, as very few know or understand, it is not just a difference in attention, perception, processing and expression. It is, in part, a severe disorder of sleep and wakefulness! Yet this is not acknowledged or understood, let alone properly treated by most authorities. Nor is it acknowledged or understood by most people with ADHD. Keep in mind that most people perceive their baseline sleep as "normal" or at least typical.
In it's most florid presentation children and adults have difficulty falling asleep (sleep initiation). In fact they tend to be at their most awake and aroused in the evening (a circadian rhythm disorder), can't "turn their brains off... stop thinking... shut down". Finally when they do fall asleep it is a very light sleep; a restless, kicking about, often tooth grinding (bruxism) sleep. They are easily awakened. The dream very little and if they do dream is just a tad before they awaken. But some people have no flailing or kicking or grinding. They seem to be asleep. But they do not get the normal parts of restorative sleep. Because of Alpha-Delta sleep, continuous intrusion of alpha rhythm into deep sleep, they are deprived of the most restorative part of sleep. Deep sleep. When the brain does not get sufficient deep sleep it avoids going into the second most restorative part of sleep, dream or REM sleep. Hence the individual is deprived of the two most important parts of sleep. They spend several hours not awake but almost no time normally asleep.
Which is the next problem. They have problems getting up in the morning because they are so tired. They never seem to be able to get enough sleep. Parents have daily battles trying to get the kids up in time and ready for school. That's when the parents haven't slept through their alarm and hit the snooze button 15 times.
Hence we see a difficulty in arousal; being awake and alert which are fundamental elements for good attention, concentration, cognition, decision-making and behavior. And there is a difficulty falling asleep and then getting any restorative sleep. This is why so many people have supposedly bad or adverse reactions to traditional stimulant medication. They require exceedingly high doses of stimulants because a substantial portion of that does is used by the nervous system to be aroused and awake with the remaining portion working on actual issues of attention, concentration. When patients have the sleep disorder corrected -- not with sleeping pills, which make you un-awake, unconscious or anesthetized, not asleep -- they require far less medication for their ADHD and related disorders. Thus an excellent response obtains without the unpleasant side effects or supposed reactions induced by the previously high dose of medication.
I did the seminal research and identified this sleep disorder and the means to correct it safely and effectively. In fact this is the sleep disorder that is the core element of fibromyalgia. In further posts I will go into some of the neurophysiology, neurochemistry, neuroanatomy and neuropharmacology of these issues. But at this point think about your attention, your arousal, your chronic fatigue and your abysmal sleep. Or as they say, sleep on it.
