Finally the Experts Agree with Me

Don’t you just love it when somebody with a gazillion credentials “proves” what you’ve been saying all along!

For years I’ve been suggesting to concerned teachers and parents that one of the major causes of what we’ve labeled ADD/ADHD might have something to do with how we’re living. That our frantic, busy lives filled with way too many stimulating images, sounds, and activities contribute to our kids’ lack of concentration. And that it wouldn’t hurt to cut way back on TV watching.

So in the most recent issue of ADDitude, a magazine for people with ADD or those who have children with ADD, Michael Ruff, MD suggested that “Our modern lifestyles can cause AD/HD.”  He’s got the credentials I don’t have: a medical doctor and professor of pediatrics at Indiana University.

According to Ruff, at least some cases of AD/HD are a byproduct of our fast-paced, stressed-out, consumer-driven lifestyles. Researchers at the University of Washington found that toddlers who watch lots of TV are most likely to develop attentional  problems. For every hour watched per day, the risk rose by 10 percent.

On the flip side, Ruff has found that in his group practice which cares for more than 800 Amish families who forbid TV, they haven’t diagnosed a single child with AD/HD.

Maybe it’s time to throw the TV out the window?

You can read more from ADDitude and subscribe at http://www.additudemag.com/  Be forewarned however that the magazine is heavily weighted toward drugs. Drug advertising helps keep it a float.