ADHD and Me

Hi. I’m Jai. I’m 8 years old. This is my story. My doctor says I have an illness. I don’t feel sick. But I do know that grown-ups around me are annoyed with me most of the time. I’m constantly being told, “sit still’’, “stop dreaming”, “pay attention”. I can’t seem to be able to do just that.

In class, I seem to lose track of what the teacher says. I try to listen, I really do. I start doing what she says, then I notice the insect fluttering on the window pane, I see the boy in the row ahead tapping his fingers on the desk, the office boy walking down the corridor and the sound of laughter from the next classroom. I don’t realise I have left my seat till teacher tells me “Jai, return to your seat”.

My parents are frequently called to school to meet my class teacher. They are unhappy with my marks. They think I’m careless and lazy because I take all evening to do my homework. I tell my mother that I try hard. I feel sad and frustrated that she doesn’t understand or believe me. Some of the other children make fun of me specially when I can’t answer in class. Mostly, I haven’t heard the question. They don’t like to play with me as I get excited and can’t wait for my turn.

Things changed about 6 months back. My parents took me to a special doctor. The doctor seemed to understand that I was not being naughty or disobedient. He talked to me, looked at my exercise books and listened to my parents. He told my parents that I had an illness, ADHD. I needed medicines for treatment of ADHD to improve my focus and concentration. I also need structure and routine in my life. It was such a relief to know it was not my fault.

A lady at the doctor’s clinic gave me some puzzles and games to do. I liked her; she spoke slowly and clearly. She explained things one at a time and did not mind repeating herself when I did not get her the first time. She helped us draw up a time-table - we had such fun doing that because she made time for everything I want to do. Now I have a study time, a play time, TV time, all clearly written in the big chart I helped to make. It reminds me of what I have to do and gives me enough time to prepare for it. Mother says I sit quietly for longer periods. Teacher says I pay more attention and don’t disturb other kids in class. She is more patient with me too.

Understanding ADHD and Helping Me

Doctor says there are many children like me. Here’s what you can do to help me and others like me.

• Help me focus. Make sure I’ve heard you and understood what you want me to do.
• I sometimes don’t realise I’ve left my seat. Please remind me to stop and think.
• I need structure and routine in my life.
• I need to know what comes next.
• Please give me time to adjust to any changes in my schedule.
• Please let me learn at my own pace, I get confused and make mistakes when you ask me to hurry up.
• Please give me instructions one step at a time. Make me repeat them.
• Please give me short work periods and small goals to start with.
• Please give me immediate feedback; did I do things the right way?
• Do give me praise even if I succeed only partially. Please don’t wait till I’m perfect.
• Don’t always find fault with me. Please praise me and reward me when I do something well.

Thank you for being patient with me.

Brain effects of cellular phone use

Mobile phone induced EEG changes

Cellular phones affect the brain to cause injury and death through inattention and reaction time delays. Cellular phone radiations also induce abnormal changes in brainwaves. Here we are not concerned with the potential for death due to the cancer generating properties of GSM radiation. We are concerned with the direct and immediate adverse effects of cellular phone conversations.

Cellphones continue to kill their users in Pune. At least two people died crossing the Hadapsar railway tracks while engrossed in conversation. One of them was oblivious to shouting onlookers warning him of the oncoming train. Another cell-bewitched user fell off his eighth-floor balcony while conversing. And of course cellphone use while driving continues to kill despite the ban. All this is besides the cancer risk that the WHO (2011) is unable to disregard.

How distracting is a cellphone conversation?

Any extraneous demand on attention will distract from performance on an ongoing task. If the task itself is critical, as in driving, distractions can be lethal. Even hands-free cellphone conversations while driving cause attention lapses and slow down reaction time (McCartt 2006). These effects are seen in drivers across gender and age groups. The surest way to verify that a crash occurred during mobile phone use is to check billing records. Using this method crashes leading to personal or property damage are found to be four times more common during mobile phone use. When there is a higher mental load in the mobile phone conversation problems with attention and reaction time are magnified (Lin 2006).

The stream of media reported mobile phone related deaths during the performance of everyday tasks highlights the much neglected aspect of non-driving related mobile phone injuries. Pedestrians conversing on a mobile phone cross the road more slowly, are less likely to look for traffic, and take more risks in the face of oncoming traffic (Neider 2010). Pedestrians are less likely to cross a road successfully while using a mobile phone than while listening to music on an iPod. These effects are more pronounced in adolescents.

The risk of injury is related to the need to shift the focus attention from the task on hand to the conversation. Conversing on a mobile phone takes up a significant amount of mental processing ability. Mobile phone conversations increase reaction times and reduce accuracy on task performance. These impairments increase with increasing complexity of the task being interrupted. One can only imagine the effect of a mobile phone interruption on the outcome of an ongoing medical procedure.

Do cellular phone generated electromagnetic waves interfere with brainwaves?

Intriguingly, GSM microwave radiation interacts with and distorts brainwaves. This effect can be directly measured and recorded on an electro-encephalogram (EEG). Electromagnetic fields emitted by cellular phones cause a slowing of brain waves (delta waves) that is not seen in healthy adults during normal wakefulness. These changes persist for up to ten of minutes after the mobile phone is switched off. Children are more vulnerable to these effects as microwave absorption is greatest in an object the size of a child’s head. This radiation also penetrates the thinner skull of an infant with greater ease (Kramarenko 2003).

Brainwaves normally discharge asynchronously when attention is drawn to an event in the environment. This event related de-synchronisation is altered by mobile phone electromagnetic fields. This affects tasks involving memory, especially in children (Krause 2000, 2006). Cellphone radiofrequency waves have a dose dependent effect on tasks attention, concentration and short term memory. Reaction speed decelerates with increasing GSM field intensity. These effects are more pronounced when the responding hand and side of radiation exposure are taken into account (Luria 2009).

These dose dependent radiation effects are also seen when cellular phone use also alters brainwave patterns (spindle activity) during slow-wave sleep. These effects are long lasting, and indicate a non-thermal effect. The thalamus, a part of the brain that processes sensation, is responsible for generating sleep spindle activity and may be especially susceptible to cellphone radiation (Regel 2007).

Walk and talk is a bad idea

References

1. Robert Baan, Yann Grosse, Béatrice Lauby-Secretan, Fatiha El Ghissassi, Véronique Bouvard, Lamia Benbrahim-Tallaa, Neela Guha, Farhad Islami, Laurent Galichet, Kurt Straif, on behalf of the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer Monograph Working Group. Carcinogenicity of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. The Lancet Oncology, Volume 12, Issue 7, Pages 624 - 626, July 2011 doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(11)70147-4
2. Kemker BE, Stierwalt JA, LaPointe LL, Heald GR. Effects of a cell phone conversation on cognitive processing performances. J Am Acad Audiol. 2009 Oct;20(9):582-8.
3. Kramarenko AV, Tan U. Effects of high-frequency electromagnetic fields on human EEG: A brain mapping study. Intern. J. Neuroscience, 113:1007–1019, 2003 DOI: 10.1080/00207450390220330
4. Krause CM, Sillanmäki L, Koivisto M, Häggqvist A, Saarela C, Revonsuo A, Laine M, Hämäläinen H.  Effects of electromagnetic fields emitted by cellular phones on the electroencephalogram during a visual working memory task. Int J Radiat Biol. 2000 Dec;76(12):1659-67.
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6. Lin CJ, Chen HJ. Verbal and cognitive distractors in driving performance while using hands-free phones. Percept Mot Skills. 2006 Dec;103(3):803-10.
7. Luria R, Eliyahu I, Hareuveny R, Margaliot M, Meiran N. Cognitive effects of radiation emitted by cellular phones: the influence of exposure side and time. Bioelectromagnetics. 2009 Apr;30(3):198-204.
8. McCartt AT, Hellinga LA, Bratiman KA. Cell phones and driving: review of research. Traffic Inj Prev. 2006 Jun;7(2):89-106.
9. Mark B. Neider, Jason S. McCarley, James A. Crowell, Henry Kaczmarski, Arthur F. Kramer. Pedestrians, vehicles, and cell phones. Accident Analysis and Prevention 42 (2010) 589–594
10. Regel SJ, Tinguely G, Schuderer J, Adam M, Kuster N, Landolt HP, Achermann P. Pulsed radio-frequency electromagnetic fields: dose-dependent effects on sleep, the sleep EEG and cognitive performance. J Sleep Res. 2007 Sep;16(3):253-8.