Is It Actually Possible For Children To Be Prone To Sleep Apnea?

We quite often are more likely to view young children to be considerably less prone to destructive health problems in comparison with adults, as though their youthfulness and innocence by some means makes them more impervious to infection and disease. Unfortunately, this isn't correct, not even having a supposedly "adult" condition like sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea-as differentiated from central sleep apnea-is a typical problem in kids which is oftentimes seen as creating weak attention span and erratic behavior which could compromise a child's school performance.

Sleep apnea develops whenever a person encounters a number of breathing stopages as well as short breaths while asleep. The breathing disruptions primarily take place between 5 and 30 or more instances every hour on 3 or more nights each week. The breathing pauses can last as little as a few seconds or sometimes as long as minutes. Either way, the brain understands that the body wants oxygen and tones up the breathing actions, resulting in the person to maneuver from deep sleep to light sleep as they are gasping for air. As a result, the person does not achieve prolonged deep sleep and goes through the following day feeling exhausted. In grown-ups, obstructive apnea is generally experienced by chronic snoring and it is frequently related to being considerably overweight. In youngsters, however, snoring might not be an indicator (10-20 percent of healthy children snore) and obesity often is not a contributing factor.

The following is a summary of factors frequently related to children who are suffering from obstructive apnea: breathing through the mouth because of upper airway occlusion, enlarged tonsils and adenoids, restless sleep, weight loss or poor weight gain, excessive daytime sleepiness and cognitive and behavioral problems including poor attention span, hyperactivity and aggressive behavior.

When a pediatric ear, nose and throat specialist or perhaps a sleep specialist determines that the child has obstructive apnea; a tonsillectomy or adenoidectomy may be performed to solve the issue, these being the most common cures for childhood apnea. However when enlarged tonsils and adenoids aren't a contributing factor, your son or daughter might be recommended for a polysomnogram-a painless overnight procedure performed in a sleep clinic that involves placing small sensors on the head, face, chest and finger to chart vital signs and muscle movements while the patient sleeps.

Like several sleep issues, obstructive apnea can lead to a weakened immune system that compromises a person's capability to fight off infection and disease. Therefore, addressing apnea is important to a lot more than the improvement of your child's overall behavior and attention span. Children who exhibit a failure to focus in many cases are prescribed medications that treat adhd (ADD), but when apnea is the underlying cause of your son or daughter's short attention span, such medications only serve to mask the symptoms of apnea. ADD often occurs without the presence of apnea, but for the sake of your child's immune system and his or capability to achieve restful sleep, it's wise to contact an ear nose and throat specialist or perhaps a sleep medicine clinic before surmising that the child is affected with non-apnea induced ADD.

While conducting research for this article, I learned about obstructive sleep apnea children and sleep disorder children at www.FusionSleep.com.