ADHD Health Center

• Identifying ADHD
• Strategies for Parenting Children with ADHD
• Start the School Year Right

Hyperactivity

Hyperactivity is considered to be one of the main symptoms of ADHD, however, there can still be a diagnosis of ADHD without the presence of hyperactivity. There are many people that have an inattentive type of ADHD that do not exhibit symptoms that would accompany hyperactivity.

The degree of hyperactivity also can diminish as a child becomes older. This is one of the reasons that it was believed that children grew out of ADHD as they become older. While children may act as if they “are driven by a motor,” never sitting still for a moment or constantly jumping and bouncing, adults may have a continuous feeling of restlessness.  Although the symptoms may manifest differently in children and adults, hyperactivity can be present in both.

Characteristics of Hyperactivity in Children

The DSM-IV lists the characteristics of hyperactivity as:

• often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat
  
• often leaves seat in classroom or in other situations in which remaining seated is expected
  
• often runs about or climbs excessively in situations in which it is inappropriate (in adolescents or adults, may be limited to subjective feelings of restlessness)
  
• often has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly
  
• is often "on the go" or often acts as if "driven by a motor"
  
• often talks excessively
  

Hyperactivity can interfere with daily activities. In children, constant motion can be disruptive to a classroom. Children may get up to sharpen pencils or constantly be dropping things from their desk. Teachers may be consistently reminding them to sit still. At home, hyperactivity can cause problems with completing homework. Children with hyperactivity do not “play quietly”, they run around, bounce from one thing to another and sometimes, it seems, literally jump off the walls. As children get older, they do tend to calm down a bit but even as teenagers, hyperactivity shows itself.

Medications for ADHD relieve some of the symptoms of hyperactivity, allowing people to sit still long enough to complete a task.  For some people, learning to live with hyperactivity is the best course of action. They may design their lives around their constant need for action, finding a job that does not require them to sit for long periods and will allow them movement throughout the day.