According to a new scientific research, published in the latest issue of the respected scientific journal Pediatrics, it may be that hyperactive children tend to sleep less every night, on account of their condition. This, in turn, makes their activity levels even higher, which contributes to the ensuing vicious circle. The research is the first one to study a large number of children, and determine that such a connection exists. More than 2050 mothers answered yearly questionnaires about their children as part of the investigation, the team behind the study reports.

“Hyperactivity problems may interfere with night-time sleep. We found that children who didn't sleep long were generally hyperactive boys who lived under adverse family conditions,” explains Universite de Montreal Department of Psychiatry professor Jacques Montplaisir. The expert, who is also the senior author of the new journal entry, is the director of the Hopital du Sacre-Cœur de Montreal's Sleep Disorders Center. The data on the children was collected for five years, and then passed on for analysis to scientists at the Montreal institutions, and the Sainte Justine University Hospital Research Center, In France. Expert at the Universite Laval and the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) also received the information.

“On the other hand, short or fragmented sleep leads to sleepiness, which could manifest as hyperactivity in boys. However, the risk of abbreviated sleep in highly hyperactive children is stronger than the risk of hyperactivity among kids with short sleep duration,” adds Dr. Montplaisir. The expert underlines the fact that the children who slept for more than 11 hours a day had the lowest levels of hyperactivity. Low education levels in the mothers and insufficient family incomes were factors tied to the children's levels of hyperactivity too.

The Pediatrics article is entitled “Short Nighttime Sleep-Duration and Hyperactivity Trajectories in Early Childhood.” The study was made possible, among others, by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Quebec Department of Health and Social Services, Quebec's Ministry of Research, Science and Technology, Human Resources Development Canada, Health Canada and the National Science Foundation (NSF).