Scientists mapping the number of ADHD diagnoses across the United States and in nine other countries reported that regions that got the most sun had rates of ADHD diagnoses that were about half as high as regions that got the least. Published in the Oct. 15 issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry, the study's author Martijn Arns considered melatonin levels related to sleep disturbances as a possible contributing factor, whereas Vitamin D was ruled out.

Children in sunny climates may spend more time playing outside, said Dr. Andrew Adesman, "There's a small but growing literature talking about exercise as a way to moderate ADHD and hyperactivity."

According to Dr Levinson, physical exercise plays a very important role in improving ADHD and overlapping dyslexic symptoms: "When school athletes with ADHD are deprived of sports activities as an academic punishment or during off-season, their concentration and academics deteriorate. This is also consistent with improvements corresponding to sensory-motor exercises as well as inner-ear-enhancing medications. "One might also consider the psychological alerting or stimulant effect of sun vs. darkness on mood, even if physiological studies currently show no differences. Sun may psychologically enhance mood and thus concentration, whereas darkness tends to have reverse effects, exceptions aside. And further neurochemical studies may find explanations thus far overlooked.

About Harold Levinson, M.D.

Formerly Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at New York University Medical Center, Dr. Harold Levinson is currently Director of the Levinson Medical Center for Learning Disabilities in Great Neck, New York. He is a well known neuropsychiatrist, clinical researcher and author. His "highly original" research into the cerebellar-vestibular (inner-ear) origins and treatment of dyslexia and related learning, attention-deficit/hyperactivity and anxiety or phobic disorders has evolved over the past four decades. Levinson's concepts encompass the collective insights derived from the examinations, follow-up and successful treatment of over 35,000 children, adults and even seniors and have led to new methods of screening, diagnosis, treatment and prevention. His expanded theories appear capable of encompassing and/or explaining all reported symptoms as well as most other concepts and experimental data, thus resulting in a truly holistic perspective.

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