Vitamin D
moderate Efficacy
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The Big Picture
Vitamin D is a foundational nutrient that acts more like a hormone than a vitamin. While it is vital in many ways its ability to directly reduce ADHD symptoms is generally low unless a significant deficiency was present.
In Depth
Vitamin D is a key ingredient the brain uses to create the enzymes that build dopamine. Impacting your ability to hold and direct attention. Furthermore, Vitamin D is a major regulator of sleep quality and nighttime breathing. Because poor sleep drastically worsens ADHD symptoms. Vitamin D's primary benefit is indirect by fixing sleep-debt and breathing issues that make inattention feel more severe. Having sufficient vitamin D levels represents part of a stable foundation for your primary ADHD medications such as Adderall or Ritalin to work on.
The Science
Evidence suggests Vitamin D helps maintain the health of dopamine-releasing neurons and regulates the sleep-wake cycle.
A systematic review confirming children with ADHD have significantly lower Vitamin D levels, with supplementation showing modest benefits as an add-on to medication.
A 2025 study finding that Vitamin D significantly improves sleep duration and breathing in ADHD, though direct impact on core ADHD symptoms was not observed.
Research demonstrating that baseline levels didn't predict focus but increases in Vitamin D levels correlated with a reduction in inattention (rho=0.41).
