Chapter 5 - Healthy Sleep Practices (Sleep Hygiene) in Children With ADHD

Abstract

Sleep hygiene behaviors (or more appropriately termed “healthy sleep practices”) are commonly cited in health professionals’ recommendations for sleep difficulties among children, yet research evidence for such practices are lacking. This chapter defines and outlines healthy sleep practices, as well as differentiates between healthy sleep practices and specific behavioral sleep interventions in the treatment of sleep difficulties, specifically behavioral insomnia among children. The ABCs of SLEEPING mnemonic, a framework for many commonly made recommendations around healthy sleep practices, will be introduced and used to organize and highlight current evidence in each area among populations of typically developing children and children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), focusing on children ages 1–12 years of age. This chapter also includes a review of the literature examining the evidence of healthy sleep practices specifically among children with ADHD as compared to typically developing peers. The barriers to assessing, treating, and accessing evidence-based interventions targeting healthy sleep practices for children with behavioral insomnia will be discussed. Finally, a new tool, the ABCs of SLEEPING, will be described. This tool holds promise for bridging the gap in provision of evidence-based recommendations for healthy sleep practices interventions. After completing this chapter, the reader will be able to describe many healthy sleep practices recommendations commonly made by health professionals, as well as understand the evidence behind such recommendations for children with ADHD, and the treatment options currently available.