Abstract:
Background: The aim of this study was to examine a nonmedical treatment alternative to medication in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) insomnia, in which blue wavelength light-blocking glasses are worn during the evening hours to counteract the phase-delaying effect of light. Outcome measures included sleep quality and midsleep time. The capacity of ADHD subjects to comply with treatment using the glasses was assessed. Methods: Daily bedtime, wake-up time, and compliance diaries were used to assess sleep quality and timing during a baseline observation week and a 2-week intervention period. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was administered following baseline and intervention. The intervention protocol consisted of use of blue wavelength-blocking glasses and a moderate lighting environment during evening hours.Results: Partial and variable compliance were noted, with only 14 of 22 subjects completing the study due to nonadherence with wearing the glasses and diary completion. Despite the minimum 3-hour recommendation, glasses were worn, on average, for 2.4 hours daily. Lighting was reduced for only 58.7% of the evening. Compared with baseline, the intervention resulted in significant improvement in global PSQI scores, PSQI subcomponent scores, and sleep diary measures of morning refreshment after sleep (P = 0.037) and night-time awakenings (P = 0.015). Global PSQI scores fell from 11.15 to 4.54, dropping below the cut-off score of 5 for clinical insomnia. The more phase-delayed subjects, ie, those with an initial midsleep time after 4:15 am, trended towards an earlier midsleep time by 43.2 minutes following the intervention (P = 0.073). Participants reported less anxiety following the intervention (P = 0.048).Conclusions: Despite only partial compliance with intervention instructions, subjects completing the study showed subjectively reduced anxiety and improved sleep quality on multiple measures. The more sleep-delayed subjects trended toward an earlier sleep period following use of the glasses. Blue-blocking glasses are a potential insomnia treatment for more compliant subjects with ADHD insomnia, especially those with prominent sleep delay. Larger studies of blue light-blocking glasses in more phase-delayed groups could reveal significant advances in chronotherapeutics.Keywords: insomnia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
https://www.oalib.com/paper/2975059#.VtxuSJwrKhc
ADHD
ADHD – also called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder – is a neuropsychiatric disorder. ADHD is expressed as a disturbance of attention and activity. The disorder is best known in children, and studies show that ADHD occurs in 2-4% of all children. Boys are affected 4-5 times more often than girls. More than half of all children affected by ADHD retain the disorder throughout their adult lives.
Description
Symptoms of ADHD
ADHD occurs in many different degrees of severity and can cause secondary problems such as learning difficulties, motor difficulties, behavioural disorders, developmental disorders, anxiety and depression.
ADHD is characterised by attention deficit, hyperactivity and impulsivity.
ADD is the silent form of ADHD. There is no hyperactivity here.
Children with ADHD often have difficulty sitting still, waiting their turn, following norms, completing tasks or controlling their emotions and temperament.
Researchers believe ADHD is caused by disturbances in several areas of the brain. It seems that the brain has a reduced ability to transport the signalling substances dopamine and norepinephrine. It is believed that this causes the brain to tire and thereby the symptoms of ADHD appear.
ADHD is primarily hereditary, but can also result from influences on the child's brain before, during or after birth.
ADHD and sleep
Children and young people with ADHD can have difficulty falling asleep. They are usually not tired at normal bedtime. They may also have intrusive thoughts and it may take up to two hours before sleep occurs.
During sleep, they may experience more or less REM (Rapid Eye Movements) sleep than usual, breathing disturbances, periodic leg movements and an increased number of bodymovements than usual.
Too little sleep can lead to social jet lag , where the sleep deficit gets bigger and bigger every night until they crash and sleep a lot.
Children and young people with ADHD may develop insomnia or anxiety.
Conversely, some may fall asleep before normal bedtime and wake up early in the morning. This does not fit into the normal circadian rhythm of social activities.
Children and young people with ADHD need support to fall asleep. The key is a stable circadian rhythm, which is supported by fixed routines around bedtime and waking up and a comfortable and safe sleeping environment.
ADHD and sleep glasses
ADHD can also cause sleep disturbances, and experiments with sleep glasses at the University of Toronto have shown that it is possible to induce a significant improvement in both the objective and the subjective degree of the symptoms of ADHD in adults by advancing the circadian rhythm.
The circadian rhythm can be advanced by wearing sleep glasses for 1-2 hours before normal bedtime. The total time during which the ADHD sufferer either sleeps or wears sleep glasses should preferably be 10-11 hours.
The same results have not yet been demonstrated for children and young people with ADHD, due to a lack of trials.
Research regarding ADHD
Treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder insomnia with blue wavelight light-blocking glasses
CronoPhysiology and Therapy 2013. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL, USARachel E Fargason, Taylor Preston, Emily Hammond, Roberta May, Karen LPMID:0
The aim of this study was to investigate a non-medicinal treatment alternative to medication in ADHD insomnia (ADHD), where sleep glasses are used in the evening hours to counteract the...
Treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder insomnia with blue wavelight light-blocking glasses
The aim of this study was to investigate a non-medicinal treatment alternative to medication in ADHD insomnia (ADHD), where sleep glasses are used in the evening hours to counteract the phase-delaying effect of light. Conclusion: Despite only partial adherence to intervention instructions, subjects who completed the study showed subjectively reduced anxiety and improved sleep quality on several measures. The more sleep-delayed subjects tended to have an earlier sleep period after using the sleep glasses. Sleep glasses are a potential insomnia treatment for more compliant individuals with ADHD insomnia, especially those with prominent sleep latency. Larger studies of sleep glasses in more phase-delayed groups could reveal significant advances in chronotherapy.
Treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder insomnia with blue wavelight light-blocking glasses
CronoPhysiology and Therapy 2013. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL, USA
PMID:0