A new research reveals that stimulant medications for kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may develop problems falling sleeping and staying asleep resulting to less sleeping time.

CBS News reports that the new analysis published in the journal Pediatrics discussed conflicting evidence on the topic. It was proven that children who take this type of medications take longer to fall asleep resulting to poor quality of sleep and shorter periods of sleep.

More so, about 7 percent of all children worldwide suffer from ADHD. This is a chronic condition wherein children have attention difficulty, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. There is no exact statistics on how many kids suffer from ADHD in the United Sates; American Psychiatric Association reports 5 percent of kids suffers from the condition while Centres for Disease Control and Prevention hints that it could be much higher than 11 percent.

While around 3.5 million children are prescribed stimulant medications like Ritalin and Adderall. Both types of drugs, methylphenidate (Ritalin) and amphetamines (Adderall) cause sleeping problems to kids according to the study. More so, it was found that boys were more prone to suffer sleeping problems. Although it was noted that the issue may disappear for a time, it won't completely go away. 

Experts advise paediatricians to observe any sleep problems in kids with ADHD. "If children are on medicine, you want to try to use the lowest does possible and in some cases perhaps changing the medicine might also help," Adesman said.

Researchers also suggest to use alternative treatments like parental training, classroom procedure changes and homework assignments to help lessen negative effects of living with ADHD.

Timothy Nelson, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and involved in the study stated, "We're not saying don't use stimulant medications to treat ADHD. They are well tolerated in general and there is evidence for their effectiveness. But physicians need to weigh the pros and cons in any medication decisions, and considering the potential for disrupted sleep should be part of that cost-benefit analysis with stimulants."

In the end, parents and physicians alike should observe what works best for the kids with ADHD. 

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