Brandon Luu Explores Circadian Rhythms and Sleep Timing in ADHD

Brandon Luu is exploring how disruptions to the body’s internal clock relate to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Researchers are shifting their focus from viewing sleep disturbances as a byproduct of psychiatric disorders to investigating whether abnormalities in the body’s timekeeping system act as a root cause.

ADHD Patients Experience Delayed Sleep-Wake Timing

Recent estimates suggest that 73 to 78 percent of children and adults diagnosed with ADHD experience delayed sleep-wake timing. Studies indicate that melatonin onset occurs roughly 45 minutes later in children with the condition and about 90 minutes later in adults, according to findings cited by The Washington Post. Insomnia and related sleep disturbances affect up to 80 percent of adults with ADHD, with pediatric populations showing similarly high proportions.

Additional physiological markers reinforce the link between internal timing anomalies and the disorder. Research shows that daily cortisol cycles can be delayed and blunted in people with ADHD, while cellular investigations further demonstrate that clock genes throughout bodily tissues display less distinct daily rhythms.

Biological Chronotypes Conflict with Societal Schedules

Chronotypes dictate where individuals fall on the natural spectrum from early sleep-wake timing to late timing, driven partly by genetics and life stage. A large United States study published in PLOS One in 2017 analyzed 53,689 people and found that about 40 percent qualified as early chronotypes with sleep midpoints before 3 a.m., 44 percent fell in the middle with midpoints between 3 and 5 a.m., and 16 percent were late chronotypes with midpoints after 5 a.m.

This biological variance frequently places individuals in direct conflict with conventional societal schedules. A person whose internal clock resists sleep until 3 a.m. faces severe distress attempting to wake at 7 a.m., yet sleeps normally if allowed to rest until 11 a.m., as noted in reporting by The Washington Post. When this misalignment becomes pronounced, clinicians categorize the issue under circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders.

Researchers Advocate for Routine Sleep Screening

To address these systemic timing issues, Luu and co-author Nicholas Fabiano, a psychiatry resident and researcher at the University of Ottawa, published a perspective paper in Frontiers of Psychiatry advocating for routine clinical screening of sleep disturbances. They recommend sleep tracking for individuals with ADHD as a low-effort, low-risk approach to managing the condition.

That really helped me turn my life around

Brandon Luu