Child Sleep Disorders: Is Your Child at Risk?

Sleep Disorders

Child Sleep Disorders: Is Your Child at Risk?

Recent research has proven that children just are not getting the sleep they need these days. Kids today seem to be doing poorer in school and have less attention spans. Most parents are not aware of a common problem effecting thousands of children in this country: sleep disorders. Parents often fail to follow there children's sleeping patterns which can result in some serious side effects if that child has a sleep disorder. A study done at Tulane University in New Orleans studied about 300 first graders that preformed poorly in school. They found that 18 per cent showed signs of a sleeping problem. The percentage of children with bad grades found to have sleeping problems was six to nine times higher than found in a previous study done over all of the childhood population. (The Toronto Star). Most people believe that sleep disorders only affect adults but in reality 30% of all children have some sort of sleep disorder. (Burcum).

Sleep disorders are defined as a group of syndromes characterized by disturbance in the patient's amount of sleep, quality or timing of sleep, or in behaviors or physiological conditions associated with sleep. To qualify for a diagnosis of sleep disorder, the condition must be a persistent problem, cause the patient significannot

emotional distress, and interfere with his or her social or occupational functioning. (Frey p265). Some sleep disorders can effect children of all ages. The sleep disorder that children are subject to often depends on their age and development. Sleep disorders change most frequent in the middle-school years. Children often experience more anxiety at this time. (Burcum). The source of the certain sleep disorder cannot normally be pin pointed in every case. Many factors come in to play when dealing with the cause of a sleep disruption. Parental characteristics, personality, psychosocial influences, education, parenting skills, stress, trauma, school, culture and personal health can all bring about sleeping disorders in young to middle-aged children.

Some parents find that there children sleep to much, while others don't sleep enough. Some fall asleep at the wrong times while others cannot

ever even get to sleep. There are about 100 different sleep disorders being researched currently. Although sleep is a basic behavior in animals as well as humans, researchers still do not completely understand all of its functions and maintenance. In order to cure the child's sleep problem, you have to find the root of it. Unfortunately all sleep disorders are not caused by the same condition. There are several types or disorders and several conditions that can produce a them. (Fritz p82).

The first and most researched sleep disorder is sleep apnea. Sleep apnea does not affect children as often as it effects adults, but it is still a rising concern. Sleep apnea occurs in about 2 per cent of children, mainly between the ages of one through eight. But it can also show up in older children and even infants. (Klein). Research says that young blacks are more at risk than young whites. (Fritz p 83). Children with sleep apnea briefly stop breathing many times during the night due to an obstruction in the respiratory tract. Most of the time it is related to enlarged tonsils and adenoids or to obesity. As the child will gasp for there breath during sleep, they awaken for a few moments to regain there normal breathing and then they immediately return back to sleep. Because the child will be awoken by this many times during the night, this cause sleep deprivation. (Common Sleep Problems AA). The physical symptoms of sleep apnea are excessive daytime sleepiness, snoring, restless sleep, heavy and irregular breathing, excessive perspiring during the night, bad dreams, sleeping with there mouth open, sleeps in strange positions, morning headaches, learning problems, excessive irritability, depression, changes in personality, difficulty concentrating, hyperactive behavior, and upper respiratory infections are only some of the immediate signs. Sleep apnea is a potentially life-threatening condition that does require immediate medical attention. Not catching sleep apnea at an early stage may bring about long-term side effects later in the child's life. A sleep test called polysomnography is usually conducted to diagnose sleep apnea. In most cases involving children, sleep apnea will be treated by removing the child's tonsils or adenoids. Or it can be treated through a machine that opens up the child's airways. (Kryger Childhood). It is one of the most dangerous of the sleep disorders but when found early it can normally be treated completely.

The next and most common disorder in children is nightmares. For most kids, dreams are pleasant experiences of everyday events. For other kids dreams are not dreams, they are nightmares that cause a child to have fear and dwell upon them which eventually can lead up to the fear of falling asleep at all. Nightmares seem to become more serious when parents neglect to talk to there children about there worries. (Horne). Nightmares usually begin when a child is about three years old. They are most common between the ages of three and eight. (Sleep Problems). They usually occur in the second half of the night when dreaming is most intense. (Epstein). This is normally the age when there fantasy level is most active. Most of the time a child will be wide awake after a nightmare and they will be able to recall the events that occurred the next morning. Occasional nightmares are perfectly normal but an increased number of nightmares can be a response to excessive stress and anxiety in a child's life. Changes in a child's normal routine can also bring about nightmares. Also watching a violent or scary movie can cause a child to have nightmares. (Sleep Problems). When a child awakes from a nightmare, they need physical contact, comfort, and reassurance. Parents should stay with the child until they are ready to go back to sleep. (Epstein).

Another disorder often confused with nightmares are night terrors. Night terrors are cauterized by a sudden arousal from slow wave sleep with a piercing scream or cry, followed by autonomic and behavior malfunctions of intense fear. Night terrors are defined as episodes of sudden, intense terror in the night. These episodes usually occur in the first third of the night. (Night Terrors in Children). They are more common in boys than in girls. (Sleep Tight Video). Most of the time the child will have no recollection of the event once it has occurred. Some children have these occurrences less than once per month while some experience night terrors almost once