Adults are seeking ADHD treatment at record rates. 

A new Canadian study reveals that stimulant prescriptions have more than doubled since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a trend that mirrors similar surges in the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and Finland.

Many mental health professionals say the findings align with what they are seeing in their clinics. 

SIMPLE DAILY HABIT MAY HELP EASE DEPRESSION MORE THAN MEDICATION, RESEARCHERS SAY

The study, which analyzed data from January 2016 to June 2024, found that the demographics of those receiving stimulants have shifted significantly. 

Before the pandemic, 48% of new recipients were female; during the pandemic, that number jumped to 59%. The most significant growth occurred among adults aged 25 to 34.

The researchers also noted that the time between a patient’s first ADHD-related healthcare visit and their first prescription shortened during the pandemic.

By June 2024, the monthly rate of adults being prescribed stimulants reached 10.4 per 1,000 people, a more than sevenfold rise since the start of the study period.

While this could signal more efficient care, it also raises questions about whether patients are receiving thorough evaluations, the study indicated. 

SINGLE DOSE OF POWERFUL PSYCHEDELIC CUTS DEPRESSION SYMPTOMS IN CLINICAL STUDY

Dr. Nissa Keyashian, a California-based board-certified psychiatrist and author of “Practicing Stillness,” said the spike was not a surprise.

“In my practice and that of many of my colleagues, many people, particularly women, have received a new diagnosis of ADHD, usually inattentive subtype, in adulthood,” Keyashian, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.

Many of these women had symptoms that were overlooked during childhood, the doctor said. 

Unlike the hyperactive or impulsive behaviors often seen in boys, the “inattentive subtype” typically causes fewer disruptions at home or school. 

“Many only begin to struggle when they move out, are on their own and have to provide that structure for themselves,” Keyashian noted.

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Jonathan Alpert, a New York City psychotherapist and author of the new book “Therapy Nation,” said he sees many adult patients who are struggling with focus, productivity and mental overload in a “very demanding digital environment.”

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“Those challenges can resemble ADHD, but they don’t always reflect an actual diagnosis,” Alpert, who also wasn’t involved in the research, told Fox News Digital. “Not every attention problem is ADHD.”

“Not every attention problem is ADHD.”

“We’re living in a culture that increasingly pathologizes normal human difficulty, and that should be concerning to everyone,” said Alpert.

The study also highlighted a shift in who is writing these prescriptions. While the number of stimulants prescribed by psychiatrists remained relatively stable, there was a significant increase in prescriptions from primary care providers and nurse practitioners.

The rise of large telehealth companies during the pandemic could be a contributing factor, according to Keyashian, because there could have been an uptick in diagnoses for individuals who didn’t actually have ADHD.

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“Medication should treat a disorder, not become a performance enhancer,” Alpert noted. “Over time, that can lead to psychological reliance and reinforce the idea that normal struggles require medical solutions.”

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The researchers acknowledged some limitations of the study, including lack of access to detailed medical records and uncertainty regarding whether these findings apply to all geographic regions.

Some stimulants may have been prescribed off-label as an adjunctive treatment for depression or anxiety, which also surged during the pandemic, they noted.

“Many people, particularly women, have received a new diagnosis of ADHD … in adulthood.”

For those who suspect they may have ADHD, Keyashian recommends seeing a psychiatrist who is well-versed in that specific diagnosis. 

“It’s best to ask the physician you are seeing about their experience and expertise,” she advised.

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“Many people today feel mentally scattered,” added Alpert. “The challenge is figuring out whether we’re seeing more [of the] disorder — or simply the cognitive strain of a hyper-distracted world.”

The research was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Getting a certain amount of sleep could help ward off diabetes, a new study suggests.

A team of Chinese researchers studied how sleep duration on weekdays is associated with insulin resistance, a key risk factor for type 2 diabetes. The long-term observational study, held from 2009 to 2023, included about 25,000 participants.

The “sweet spot” for low insulin resistance was about seven hours and 18 minutes of sleep per night, found the research, which was published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care.

ANCIENT HERB KNOWN AS ‘NATURE’S VALIUM’ TOUTED FOR IMPROVING SLEEP AND ANXIETY

Large deviations from this benchmark — either too much or too little sleep — were associated with worse insulin sensitivity. Shorter sleep was linked with higher insulin resistance, while longer sleep had worse metabolic markers.

Getting extra “catch-up” sleep on the weekends did not make up for deficits during the week, the study found, as excessive sleep showed a risk of worsening glucose metabolism in some participants.

“These correlational findings suggest that sleep patterns, particularly weekend recovery sleep, may be relevant for metabolic regulation in diabetes and could inform considerations for healthcare professionals in managing patient care,” the researchers concluded in the study.

As this was an observational study, the findings show associations rather than cause and effect, they noted. Sleep duration was also self-reported, which could pose a limitation.

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The study did not measure sleep quality, which could play a role in outcomes. Other lifestyle factors, like diet, stress and shift work, could influence results as well.

Fox News Digital reached out to the study authors for comment.

‘Useful’ yet ‘too simplistic’

Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel said the study produced “useful information.”

“We have long known that there is an association between sleep and insulin resistance,” Siegel, who was not involved in the research, told Fox News Digital. “This is because the restorative aspect of sleep helps to regulate metabolic function and hormones, and also decrease inflammation.”

“But as this study shows, both too much and too little sleep may lead to more insulin resistance (and diabetes) via metabolic dysregulation,” he added.

Dr. Aaron Pinkhasov, a board-certified psychiatrist and chair of the department of psychiatry at NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine, said the concept of sleeping a certain number of hours to prevent diabetes is “too simplistic.”

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“Sleep is only one part of metabolic health, along with genetics, body weight, diet, physical activity and stress,” the sleep expert, who also wasn’t part of the study, told Fox News Digital.

“The study provides only a snapshot in time, so it cannot prove that sleep duration actually causes insulin resistance,” he went on. “It is also possible that underlying problems — such as metabolic illness, pain, depression or low activity — lead people to sleep longer or shorter.”

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The “practical message” for adults, according to Pinkhasov, is to aim for about seven to nine hours of quality sleep on a regular schedule, as part of an “overall strategy to reduce diabetes risk.”

“The study strengthens the idea that sleep should be considered as important as diet and exercise when discussing diabetes risk,” he added. “The key message is not the exact number of hours, but that both chronic sleep deprivation and irregular sleep patterns are associated with higher insulin resistance.”

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More than 40 million Americans — about 12% of the population — have diabetes, according to 2026 CDC data. About 11 million (27.6%) of cases are undiagnosed, and more than 115 million U.S. adults have prediabetes.

Case 1:25-cv-11916-BEM Document 291 Filed 03/16/26

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Milhoan, 50 Dr. James Pagano, Dr. Raymond Pollak, 52 -appear to lack any expertise or professional qualifications related to vaccines or immunization as required by ACIP’s Charter. See ACIP Membership Roster, supra note 16. An additional three of the current ACIP members Dr. Retsef Levi, 53 Dr. Robert Malone, 54 and Dr. Catherine Stein 55_though they have

50 Dr. Milhoan “is a pediatric cardiologist and former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon,” who “holds a Ph.D. in the mechanisms of myocardial inflammation.” ACIP Membership Roster, supra note 16. There is no evidence in the record that Dr. Milhoan has any relevant vaccine-related experience or expertise.
51 Dr. Pagano “is a board-certified emergency medicine physician with more than 40 years of clinical experience.” ACIP Membership Roster, supra note 16. There is no evidence in the record that Dr. Pagano has any relevant vaccine-related experience or expertise.
52 Dr. Pollak “is a surgeon, transplant immunobiologist, and transplant specialist who has published more than 120 peer-reviewed works and served as principal investigator on NIH transplant biology grants and numerous drug trials.” ACIP Membership Roster, supra note 16. There is no evidence in the record that Dr. Pollak has any relevant vaccine-related experience or expertise.

53 Defendants describe Dr. Levi, Professor of Operations Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, as “a leading expert in healthcare analytics, supply chain and manufacturing analytics, risk management, and biologics and vaccine safety” and note that he has “collaborated with industry stakeholders and public health agencies to develop decision-support models to evaluate biologics and vaccine safety” and co-authored studies examining the association between mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and risks of cardiovascular disease, mortality, and adverse pregnancy outcomes.” ACIP Membership Roster, supra note 16. However, based on the current record, he has published only two papers discussing vaccines, and both of those were published mere months before his appointment. Retsef Levi, et al., Twelve-Month All-Cause Mortality after Initial COVID-19 Vaccination with Pfizer- BioNTech or mRNA-1273 among Adults Living in Florida, MedRxiv (Apr. 29, 2025), https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.25.25326460v1 [https://perma.cc/NGN8-SARX] (cited at Compl. ¶77(g) n.53); Josh Guetzkow, et al., Observed-to-Expected Fetal Losses Following mRNA COVID-19 Vaccination in Early Pregnancy, MedRxiv (June 20, 2025), https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.18.25329352v1.full- text [https://perma.cc/EKL3-ELMS] (cited at Compl. ¶ 77(g) n.53). Publishing two papers on a topic, while no doubt relevant to ACIP, likely does not rise to the level of “expertise” called for under ACIP governing documents. See Expertise, Black’s Law Dictionary (12th ed. 2024) (defining “expertise” as “[s]kill or knowledge in a particular subject; specialized experience that gives rise to a facility that comparatively few people possess”).
54 Defendants describe Dr. Malone, an adjunct professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, as “a vaccinologist, scientist, and biochemist known for his early contributions to mRNA vaccine technology” whose “expertise spans molecular biology, immunology, and vaccine development.” ACIP Membership Roster, supra note 16. The only evidence in the record of his experience related to vaccines is that he was involved in early research on mRNA technology in the 1980s and 1990s. See id. Even crediting that experience, the Court cannot conclude that this experience, thirty plus years ago, constitutes the requisite expertise necessary for ACIP today. Further, the scope of his role in that research is disputed, see Davey Alba, The Latest Covid Misinformation Star Says Не Invented the Vaccines, N.Y. Times (Apr. 3, 2022), https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/03/technology/robert-malone-covid.html (cited at Compl. ¶ 77(h) n.59), which the Court need not resolve at this juncture.

55 Dr. Stein is a professor at Case Western Reserve University and “an epidemiologist with more than two decades of research experience on tuberculosis and infectious diseases and 115 peer reviewed publications.” ACIP Membership Roster, supra note 16. However, there is no evidence in the record that her experience and expertise relate to vaccines, vaccination, vaccine safety, or vaccine policy as to be relevant to ACIP’s function.

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