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Study: ADHD Sleep Issues Improved by Behavioral Intervention
July 11, 2022Behavioral interventions like healthy sleep hygiene, calming visualization, and reliable sleep and wake times are effective at improving ADHD-related sleep issues in children, according to a meta-analysis published in the Journal of Attention Disorders1. Though the study does not recommend specific interventions, its findings are a promising addition to a growing body of research surrounding behavioral interventions for correcting sleep difficulties.The researchers’ analyses, which considered 11 studies, focused on children between the ages of 5 and 15 diagnosed with ADHD who had at least one sleep problem and received some form of behavioral sleep intervention. Interventions included educating parents on sleep hygiene, establishing a proper sleep environment, and setting proper wake and sleep time, as well as using positive reinforcement, bedtime fading, and calming visualization for the children involved in the study.Though researchers found that individualized interventions that targeted the child’s specific sleep difficulty proved more effective and time-efficient than did standardized approaches.