What is the nature of ADHD? Perhaps it is mostly a condition of lifestyle and easily treatable through habit-making treatments and promoting healthier behaviors.

The research team analyzed data from a national survey of youths aged 11–17. Parents reported their children’s sleep, screen time, and exercise habits across three groups: those without ADHD, those with medicated ADHD, and those with unmedicated ADHD.

The study, published in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology, revealed that better sleep and less screen time are especially important for unmedicated children with ADHD, who are more prone to obesity. While medications like Adderall can suppress appetite, focusing on sleep and screen time can also help reduce obesity risk. However, medications is only a small part of the treatment where the majority of the treatment plan must target behavioral and cognitive habits.

Lim emphasized creating lasting, healthy behavioral changes through goal setting, health monitoring, and parental role modeling.

Through their study, they offers these tips: establish a consistent bedtime routine, limit internet access at night, keep screens out of bedrooms, avoid large meals before bed, promote daytime physical activity, create a cool, dark sleep environment, and use screen time as a reward after chores or physical activities.

So stop drugging your kids up with amphetamines and start working on important behavioral skills they’ll carry on through the rest of their lives.

DK Roberts et al. Understanding health behaviors that modify the risk for obesity in ADHD. Journal of Pediatric Psychology (2024). https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsae018