ADHD Tied to Obesity, Lethargy is the Cause

When you think of a child with ADHD, you likely think of a "hyper" kid who can't sit still, zipping around as exhausted parents ceaselessly chase after. With so much movement you'd think that the children with the disorder are one of the last kids in the U.S. to be obese. However, according to a new study, children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are actually noticeably less active and more prone to becoming obese in adolescence.

How can this be? It should first be explained that children with ADHD aren't actually more active than the average child. In-fact, the idea that hyperactivity means overactive movement is a bit of a misconception. Overactive children are more likely to be hyperactive in a fidgety way. Sure, they won't sit still, but likewise, their condition won't be having them dashing to every corner of the room either.

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, kids who had symptoms of ADHD at a young age were almost twice as likely to be obese as teens, even in the case of adolescents who were underweight but with ADHD as children.

To determine this, researchers followed the lives of nearly 7000 children born in 1986. Researchers received reports about the weight, eating habits, and ADHD symptoms of the children from the age of 8 to 16 years old. When the teens turned 16, both parents and teens were asked about the ADHD symptoms, physical activity, and binge eating habits. Information was also received from annual physical examinations of the children.

Interestingly, while ADHD involves and poor impulse control, the ADHD symptoms were not found to be linked to binge eating in teens. Instead, the cause for obesity had more to do with lack of exercise, with ADHD symptoms in childhood frequently leading to too little physical activity during teen-hood.

The study concluded explaining that this data only adds support to what researcher have long known; but this latest study also shows that ADHD teens who were less active as children display a having a harder time paying attention now. This indicates that the ADHD to lethargy relationship may be a two way street in people with the disorder.

Encouraging physical activity in children and adolescents, the researchers suggest, may be prove to be a solution to both behavioral problems associated with ADHD and obesity.

The study was published in JAACAP on February 5.