Archive for the 'Sleep & Children' Category

According to the recent studies, it has been proved that the sleep duration or sleeping time will be less or shorter in the people on weekdays, in summer and on weekends.

Many disturbances which are created at this time will not encourage you to attain good sleep. So, the sleep duration will be less in these situations.

Sleep duration will also be less in children who don’t have younger siblings. According to the recent studies, the reason for it is found out i.e. the children who don’t have younger siblings will be suffering with the problem of loneliness or insecurity.

So they don’t attain proper sleep with loneliness or insecurity feeling. Even though they go to sleep, they will awake easily for the simple things like small sounds and small disturbances.

According to the recent studies it has been found out that the toddlers who have persistent sleep problems will be more injured when compared to others who don’t have any sleep problems.

Psychologists have concluded this phrase by making several researches on toddlers. According to their view, the toddlers who have persistent sleep problems wake-up more often in their sleep. Due to this disturbed sleep they will obtain non-consistent behavior.

This non consistent behavior will obtain in them due to lack of proper sleep. Lack of sleep make them to lose concentration on what they are going to do. With this, they will just become pickle minded fellows who will not concentrate completely on their task.

Sleep walking is also known as noctambulism or somnambulism. This problem is mostly seen in children who are aged between 4 to 8 years.

Mostly this problem of sleep walking appears to run in families. There are lots of chances to obtain this problem for your child if anyone of your family members has this problem.

The factors which cause the problem of sleep walking in children are:

• Fatigue or lack of sleep
• Due to fever or some other illness
• It can also be caused with the usage of certain medications which are not suitable for your child.
• Stress or some psychological problems
• Facing problems in getting uninterrupted or good sleep
• Some emotional problems can also lead to this problem

Sleep walking is not so serious and there is nothing to worry a lot regarding this. Most of the sleep walkers don’t perform this more often.

Yeah! Sometimes this can cause some hazardous problems when the child doesn’t realize what he/she is doing such as walking through the opening windows and down stairs.

The obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is recognized as common problem in children.

This problem is increasing day by day in small children; the daytime attention and behavioral problems are noticed as a cause of this OSAS.

It is most difficult to find out OSAS in small children. The symptoms will not be clear, so it cannot be identified easily.

Some symptoms which helps you to find out sleep apnea in children are snoring, breathing through mouth, poor weight gain or weight loss, enlarged adenoids and tonsils, restless sleep and problems in sleeping, excessive daytime sleeping, daytime behavior and cognitive problems (such as problems in paying attention, hyperactivity and aggressive behavior).

What do parents need to know regarding OSAS in small children?

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) can cause several complications in your children such as headaches, poor growth, high blood pressure in small age and problems in the normal functions of lungs and heart.

This problem of OSAS in children is increasingly being identified as a source of children daytime school and behavioral problems.

If your child is not behaving correctly that means obtaining problems at school and snoring loudly while sleeping, then you must ask your pediatrician about OSAS in children.

Children with Asperger syndrome are affected by many factors like mood and behavior. Sleep problems are common and a major factor in them.

Children with Asperger syndrome have high prevalence of sleep disorders.

The sleep problems they suffer include initiating sleep, daytime sleepiness, and sleep restlessness.

Asperger syndrome is characterized by the inability to understand how to interact socially and repetitive behavior and restricted interest patterns.

Children with this syndrome have serious impairment in social and communication skills, including poor nonverbal communication.

Children with Asperger syndrome are diagnosed with sleep questionnaire, which helps in evaluating their sleep problem.

• Autism diagnostic observation schedule for assessing communication and social interaction
• Daytime sleepiness scale to evaluate the relationship between daytime sleepiness and school-related outcomes.
• Child behavior to examine daytime behavior in children

Children are also tested for verbal IQ, performance IQ and full scale IQ. Polysomnography is to be conducted to evaluate the sleep patterns of the children.

Several sleep parameters should be taken into account such as sleep period time, time spent in bed, number of awakenings per hour, and sleep efficiency are calculated.

Sleep related breathing disorder is a major problem affecting children and adults.

Pauses during sleep can cause sleep related breathing disorder, which include sleep apnea [Sleep apnea information], snoring, central hypoventilation, and periodic breathing.

The usual cause for the obstruction of breathing is large tonsils and adenoids. Removal of these tissues is essential if the patient is having sleep related breathing disorders. Tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy are the two surgeries that remove the tissues of tonsils and adenoids.

These surgeries help to treat sleep apnea in children and adults, snoring and other breathing disorders. The surgeries take about sixty minutes and are performed under general anesthesia.

Children with sleep related breathing disorders:

If the child is diagnosed with sleep related breathing disorders, his/her tonsils and adenoids should be removed with surgery to sleep better. If the disorders are not treated in children, it can lead to hyperactive behavior, learning problems, bed wetting, headaches and daytime sleepiness.

The surgeon removes the tonsils in the child through open mouth without cutting the child’s skin. With series of incisions, tonsils can be removed and then blood vessels are cauterized. If the child has bleeding, he will be taken immediately to the operating room.

Restless leg syndrome in children will be in the same way as adults and the symptoms will be itching, burning, tingling and creepy feeling.

There will be continuous urge in moving their legs when the child is resting.

With discomfort and urge to move legs, child will take long time to fall asleep.

They will get relief when they get up and walk or run around, or when they rub the legs they feel better.

In children, restless leg syndrome cannot be identified and therefore you have to pay attention to everything your child describes. Parents can interpret their child’s pains as growing pains.

Restless leg syndrome in children occurs due to genetic factors, deficiency in iron, and some existing medical conditions. Some children with chronic diseases such as kidney disease and diabetes are at an increased risk for developing this syndrome.

Symptoms of restless leg syndrome:

To relieve from discomfort, children feel urge to move the legs by tossing and turning while lying in the bed. Children stay awake long time during bedtime.

Due to the difficulty in falling asleep, they face the problem of daytime sleepiness. Behavior, academic problems, irritability and hyperactivity results in children due to daytime sleepiness.

Kids who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to be obese than those who gets plenty of sleep. This ensures that adequate sleep is important for controlling weight. According to the research, sleep deprivation increases the levels of hunger hormone and decreases the hormone levels that make kids feel full.

Lack of sleep lowers the leptin levels, a hormone that stimulates metabolism and decreases hunger. Lack of sleep increases the ghrelin concentration, a hormone that increases hunger.

Due to the decreased levels of leptin, your kid feels he needs adequate amount of food if he already has been consumed. Due to increased levels of ghrelin, kids tend to feel hungry during sleep hours. This results in increased risk of overweight in kids.