I wonder how many ADHD people in the study were on meds and I wonder how that plays into it. I have terrible sleep problems because of PTSD and no medications ever fixed it. Some made it worse (especially Paxil - which almost made me off myself just to get rid of the sheer torment it induced). Also (but this is just me), because of the sleep/ night issue, if not for computer, I would simply find something else to do at night just like I did pre-computer. With no computer, there is still TV, there are books, little tinkering things to do like make the shopping list and put the laundry away... For some people (night owls) the computer issue might be one of those deals where if it ain't one thing then it's another.

Who funded the study? Sounds to me like they're simply paving the way for some heavy-duty sedative like Seroquel or Zyprexa to be promoted for "sleep disturbance in adult ADHD."

While I know you love Biederman as much as I do...
I'm going to have to disagree with the computer theory. Its kind of stale. I'm a grown ADD kid and I did not use the internet before I was diagnosed. I don't consider myself ADD anymore because I do not consider myself disordered-though I learn and do things wildly different than most. If I am working on something complicated, that requires a lot of thought, there are going to be doodles scattered all over my workspace and I'll probably take a few dance breaks. Going to sleep is an issue for me, I've even been prescribed sleep aids but never used them.
I was told by a druggie friend in high school that someone like me should never smoke pot-I haven't (people think I'm already on something anyway). I don't take anything, I rarely drink, I stay as far away from caffeine as humanly possible...I feel that I am wired differently and its too risky to experiment even with ADHD meds.

I remember the Ritalin days (given to me for depression, not ADHD). I didn't sleep much when I took that drug, but boy was my pantry organized.

So much heat and so little light.

Skepticism is a good thing, Phil, but not when it is based on ignorance and opposition to any information that might disturb your preconceptions.

Of course, people with ADHD have trouble with sleep. It's well known. Here is a good blog post about it:

http://adultadhdrelationships.blogspot.com/2009/07/to-sleep-perchance-to-turn-off-that.html

Philip Dawdy responds: the bit about computers and the net was purely my well-informed speculation, merely riffing off of Biederman's study (which i didn't disagree with at all). of course his study began in 1998 when the net wasn't quite so prevalent in peoples' lives so it's not a surprise that it's not factored into his work here somehow. would've been nice if it could've been. i've spoken with too many psych docs and psychologists who agree with me on the point not to think that something is afoot with sleep problems in america and the computers we are all so connected to. if you don't like me engaging in speculation on my own website perhaps you ought to stay away.

Hmmm. I also wonder if people sleeping poorly could cause difficulties with concentration and not vice versa?

Wow that's a RADICAL idea isn't it?

Because it isn't common knowledge that sleep deprivation can can cause difficulties with concentration. Not at all.

Remember that old phrase correlation does equal causality?

I think the reverse of the conclusion the researchers made. Maybe, some people with poor concentration need to focus on getting a good nights sleep.

I saw a really awesome neurologist once who gave me these really awesome tips:

Make your room black. Pitch black. Light stimulates the brain to produce serotonin, and darkness stimulates the brain to produce melatonin.

Exercise. Even 15 minutes of walking a day can help with sleep.

Walk up early and go to bed early. Sleeping closely to the sun's patterns is good for our circadian rhythms. And yes, people who would night shifts are risk of host of health problems including heart problems, weight problems and mental illness.

I recently had to take a friend to the mental hospital as she had slowly started to unravel after taking a night shift. She eventually lost it completely.

I was a strong advocate for her at the mental hospital and the workers there said they see night workers come in with sleep related psychosis regularly.

(Major props to the workers who were present when I brought her in)

Even more major props because they DID NOT MEDICATE HER. They waited patiently for her to come out of the psychosis, advocated she get into an outpatient program through them (or one of her own choosing) and told her to... sleep. And get off the night shift.

She is now working a day shift and never previously or since experienced any such mental symptoms.

This is only one case, but I researched it heavily after this happened so that I could make an educated case to convince her to GET OFF THE NIGHT SHIFT since she was still delaying the decision... and indeed it seems to be a common occurrence.

Now I'm going to have to post something about this...

Frankly, I am shocked at the above post. Where did the above occur and how can I move there? I have never, ever seen professional psych workers admit that lack of sleep is possibly a CAUSE and not a symptom, of what we label mental illness. Let me just say that having a newborn child triggered my first problem and caring all night and day for my dying grandmother triggered the second. This has been a thorn in my side for a while.

Yeah. I've volunteered at the State Mental Hospital in my city and this never would have happened there. I was equally shocked. I'm not sure what would have happened if I hadn't been her advocate though.

There is not one mental hospital that does not use psych meds on patients, advocates or not, that's unheard of, what state was that in?

When I was young I was diagnosed with ADD and a visual-spacial processing disorder, a learning disorder not otherwise specified with difficulties with visual motor integration. On the internet I found out about Non-Verbal Learning Disorder and some of the symptoms of it are really similar. I have defecits in visual-spacial skills and defecits in fine motor skills, but I am good at reading nonverbal communication and I don't have the language problems that kids with NLD have, so it's confusing to figure out exactly what learning disability I have. My organization is the biggest problem, I have horrible organizational skills and I get lost all the time and usually can't figure out where I am because of the poor visual memory and executive dysfunction. I would do really poorly with arts and crafts and did very bad in math and science even with the stimulants because of the spacial organizational problems. The stimulants helped some of my organization and they helped the focusing and helped some of the problems, but since there's no magic pill to fix visual-spacial processing problems, I still did very poorly in school and any area that required organization or visual-spacial tasks, like driving or writing or math or arts and crafts. I wasn't told about the visual-spacial defecits or fine motor defecits and was only told about the attentional problems, so it was really difficult to know why such easy, simple tasks could be so difficult and take much longer for me to do.

I had problems falling asleep when I was on medication, but when I got off meds, I fell asleep right away and the sleep problems vanished very quickly. The SSRIs caused more sleep problems than stimulants or being off medications. When I was a teenager and a child it would take me hours to fall asleep, I was awake for a long time, but when I got off meds I would get to sleep right away, my sleep patterns improved a lot. It might be a coincidence, but I don't know. A lot of doctors prescribe stuff like Seroquel to help with sleep problems caused by medication which is silly.

If you have a lot of different learning disabilities, stimulants help you in some areas, but they can't repair certain cognitive processes, they aren't medicine, while they can't help a lot of the other learning disabilities, they do help a lot in some areas, so it's just a decision you have to make with care and thought about whether to try stimulant or amphetamine medication and how much it will really help.