Poor sleep linked to problems in young diabetics

A new study suggests that young diabetics may be struggling to get a good night’s sleep. As a result, they have worse control of their blood sugar, poorer school performance and behavioral problems.

The study tracked the sleep health of 50 Type 1 diabetics, ages 10 to 16. Researchers then compared the data with a similar control group. They found that the young diabetics spent more time sleeping in a lighter sleep than youth without diabetes. This lighter sleep was linked to compromised school performance and higher blood sugar levels.

Research shows that a good night’s sleep helps with glucose maintenance and insulin sensitivity. However, most of this research has been with adults. The new study concluded that sleep assessment should be routine in managing young people’s Type 1 diabetes. The study appears in the January issue of the journal SLEEP.

Read more about children’s sleep needs from the experts. Or find additional stories about children and sleep on the Sleep Education Blog.

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Book Review: The Animals Sleep

The Sleep Education blog invited Beth Smith to review The Animals Sleep: A Bedtime Book of Biomes, a children’s picture book published in 2011 by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Now in her sixth year of teaching, Beth teaches first-grade students at St. Paul Catholic School in Valparaiso, Ind. She received a bachelor of science in elementary education from Valparaiso University.

Thomas Heffron has creatively written a story, The Animals Sleep: A Bedtime Book of Biomes, geared toward younger students. Through reading it in a classroom setting, children are able to make cross-curriculum connections in both reading and science.

Students are first introduced to the scientific fact that both humans and animals need sleep. They are then transported from a warm, cozy bedroom into various biomes of multiple animals. The vivid and colorful images created by Lina Safar allow children to visualize the environments in which different animals live.

They will identify familiar animals like a zebra, cow and snake. Connections will be made to which animals live in each biome. Students will also comprehend the physical aspects of each biome.


The pictures match the written, descriptive quality of the book, presenting the children with a great and deeper understanding of the biomes and how each animal sleeps. The rhyme and rhythm presented on each page allow for an exciting and smooth read.

At the conclusion of the book, the children are moved out of the pond, grasslands and desert, and they are placed into their bedroom, a familiar place of sleep. This allows them to comprehend the importance of sleep in their lives just as it is important to the animals.

Children will thoroughly enjoy this story and be drawn into the world of the animals and sleep!

The Animals Sleep: A Bedtime Book of Biomes can be purchased from Amazon or directly from the AASM. Also available from the AASM is I See the Animals Sleeping: A Bedtime Story. Learn more about these books and find other educational resources at SleepEducation.com.

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Book Review: I See the Animals Sleeping

The Sleep Education blog invited Vicki Rakowski to review I see the Animals Sleeping: A Bedtime Story, a children’s picture book published in 2011 by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Vicki is assistant director of youth services for the Lisle Library District in Lisle, IL.

How does a lion sleep? A red fox? How about an elephant? With this new title from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, young readers will learn exactly how their favorite animals go about getting their rest.

The information is delivered simply – charmingly illustrated scenes of sleeping animals and their habitats juxtaposed with a four-line rhyme and a fact box. From flamingoes to platypuses, the scenes are elegantly done, but never overly arty -- it’s impossible not to smile at illustrator Roberta Baird’s rendition of a dozing sea otter.

The “Sleep Fact!” boxes offer lots of points for discussion -- the differences in the ways many animals prefer to sleep, as well as their ideal habitats, and wonderful details about the animals themselves, but this information is never overwhelming.

While the majority of the rhymes are pitch-perfect for both the audience and the subject matter, readers may find themselves stumbling here and there over a few forced lines. This book, however, offers solid, engaging nonfiction for toddlers and preschoolers about one of their favorite subjects: the animal kingdom.

This makes a great addition to any children’s collection, and will be a terrific support to early childhood educators in their lesson plans and circle time. Recommended for toddlers and preschoolers.

I See the Animals Sleeping: A Bedtime Story can be purchased from Amazon or directly from the AASM. Also available from the AASM is The Animals Sleep: A Bedtime Book of Biomes. Learn more about these books and find other educational resources at SleepEducation.com.

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Evening Screen Time Negatively Affects Kids' Sleep

Many young children have a problem going to sleep when it is their bed time. A recent study in the journal Pediatrics found that children between the ages of 3 and 5 had trouble sleeping if they had screen time after 7 p.m. Screen time includes television, video games or the computer. The amount of violent content in the program or game appears to be a contributing factor.

According to the study, about 20 percent of the 112 children involved had sleep problems almost every day of the week. Their issues included difficulty falling asleep, waking up during the night, nightmares and being sleepy during the day. The children who watched violent television at night had the most sleep problems.

A hundred children averaged a half hour of nighttime television, and 28 percent of the group had difficulty sleeping. When it came to violent television, 60 of the children averaged about an hour daily. About 37 percent had trouble sleeping. Television is often a stimulant to small children. Evening viewing may lead to increased alertness, and prevent them from winding down for bedtime. The findings demonstrate the importance that parents monitor the amount of television young children watch so they meet their sleep needs.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Dr. Marc Weissbluth a sleep disorders specialist at Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital, said children get ready for sleep with nighttime rituals that communicate that it is time for rest. Many families mistakenly believe that watching television helps their children go sleep, so they put televisions in their children’s room. Weissbluth suggests bedtime stories or cuddling with parents as healthier alternatives to television.

The findings are consistent with another study on bedtime routines published in the May 2009 issue of SLEEP. The study found that a healthy bedtime routine improves the sleep of infants and toddlers.

Image by Sean Dreilinger

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Online Toolset Helps Young Children and Their Parents Find Sleep

Sleep-deprived new parents may want to put down the baby books and turn to the internet for help. A new study in the April issue of the journal SLEEP shows internet-based interventions work wonders reducing infant and toddler sleep disturbances.

Mothers in the study used Johnson & Johnson’s Customized Sleep Profile, an online program that compares a child’s sleep to other children of the same age. Parents enter details about the child’s sleep habits, such as position, sleep environment and bedtime routine and times awoken per night.

The program uses an algorithm to generate a summary of the child’s sleep habits and generates customized recommendations. A child can be an “excellent, good or disrupted sleeper.”

A group of 264 mothers were randomly assigned to an internet intervention group or a control group. Following an internet intervention, parents reported a 50 percent or more decrease in the number and duration of night wakings. Children took less time to fall asleep and had a longer total sleep time at night. As a result, the mothers slept better and had notable improvements in levels of tension, depression, fatigue and confusion.

Johnson & Johnson’s Customized Sleep Profile seems to be an effective place to start if your child is a disturbed sleeper. The algorithm gives at least some useful advice that benefited the mothers in the study.

Similar internet interventions are available from other online sources. It’s too early to know that the other programs work, because the study only examined the effectiveness of Johnson & Johnson’s Customized Sleep Profile.

Sleep problems are common among young children – as many as 30 percent of infants and toddlers have disrupted sleep. Young children have a form of sleep apnea, which would require treatment. If you believe your child’s sleep problems may be serious, skip the internet intervention and see your family pediatrician instead.

Read more about Sleep & Young Children.

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ADHD and Late Bedtimes Don't Mix for Schoolchildren

Late bedtimes and overall poor sleeping habits can easily transform an A into an F for school-aged children. Sleep is perhaps the most important factor in academic success and healthy cognitive development. Lack of sleep can be disastrous for children, especially if they have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

A study in the March issue of the journal SLEEP reports the consequences from poor sleep can magnify the academic disadvantage facing children with ADHD. After staying up late for nearly an extra hour, children with ADHD lost the ability to remain vigilant and attentive.

A group of 11 children with ADHD and 32 kids without the childhood disorder were asked to eliminate nearly an hour of sleep for six consecutive nights, following a baseline period. Researchers monitored the children’s sleep patterns using wrist actigraphy.

Before and after the period of sleep-deprivation, each child took a common neurobehavioral test used in the evaluation of ADHD called a Continuous Performance Test. The children were presented single letters on a computer screen at three different rates and had to press a button in response.

Results show that children with ADHD who lost an average of 55 minutes of sleep per night had more errors and a slower reaction time in the test compared to children without the disorder.

The National Institute of Mental Health reports that ADHD affects about 3-5% of school-aged children, and is more common in boys than girls. Children with ADHD may be impatient, have trouble focusing and quickly become bored. They may daydream, have trouble sitting still or talk nonstop. For a child to be clinically diagnosed with ADHD, these symptoms must be present for at least six months. Sometimes mood disorders such as depression or other learning disabilities are mistaken for ADHD.

Lack of sleep can also lead to symptoms similar to ADHD in children. They respond to sleep loss differently than adults. Sleep-deprived adults may feel lethargic and have trouble staying awake, while sleep-deprived children can be hyperactive.

The AASM recommends school-aged children get 9-10 hours of sleep per night. Very young children may need as much as 14 hours of sleep for healthy cognitive development.

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Nighttime Sleep Essential for Mental Development in Young Children

Good nighttime sleep at a very early age may help kick-start cognitive development and give kids a leg-up in school. The amount of nighttime sleep – not daytime naps – is the key component to advanced executive function in children, a study included in the November/December issue of Child Development reports.

Executive function is another name for a specific group of mental skill areas essential for success in the classroom. Skills include attentiveness, self-discipline, organization, memorization and the abilities to plan, think and work with others. Executive function develops rapidly across the first six years of life. Little is known about why some children are more successful at developing those skills than their peers.

The study followed 60 Canadian children between their 12 and 26 months of age. At the 12 and 18 month mark, each parent completed sleep diaries by recording when their child slept and for what length. Researchers tested the children’s executive function at 18 and 26 months of age.

Results show children who slept mostly at night did better at most executive function-related tests, especially the tasks involving impulse control. The number of times the children woke per night did not impact test results. The findings held true even after the authors adjusted for factors such as socio-economic class, parents’ education level and children’s general cognitive skills.

The authors of the study note that infant sleep later sets in motion the development of more advanced executive skills. This may help flesh out recent findings that linked earlier bedtimes to higher test scores in school-aged children.

The AASM recommends infants get a minimum of 14 hours of sleep per day for healthy development. Toddlers should sleep 12 to 14 hours per night. Start your child’s health habits out on the right foot and make their sleep a priority.

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Back to School Sleep Tips for Parents

It’s that time of year again when parents have to break the bad habits that keep kids up late during the summer months. The switch to an early morning wake-up call that comes with the start of school is the source frustration for parents. Getting kids to put down the Playstation controller and get to bed at a decent hour can be met with fits of refusal.

This bedtime battle is in the children’s best interest of course. Kids who use technology late into the night have trouble staying awake and alert in the classroom. As the Sleep Education Blog reported earlier this summer, children score higher in school when their parents enforce regular bedtimes.

Children need more sleep than adults for full daytime functioning and healthy long-term development. Individual sleep needs depend on the age. Younger children should get to bed much earlier than their adolescent siblings (see chart below).


If your child won’t sleep at bedtime it may be a sleep hygiene issue. Nearly a quarter of children have some kind of sleep complaint, whether its outright refusal to sleep or frequent trips to the bathroom.

The first step is to set a regular bedtime for your child, and enforcing it even on weekends. Staying up late on Saturdays may throw off their body clock and make bedtime difficult early in the school week.

A transition period may help children change their bedtime. Try putting them to sleep a half hour earlier every night until you have reached the desired bedtime. Then get them outside in the morning and expose them to sunlight. This can help them get used to being awake earlier by regulating their body clock.

Set an electronics black-out an hour before bedtime. Cell phones, computers and video games all have bright screens that can prevent children from feeling tired at bedtime. The stimulation from video games can also make winding down difficult. Try a reading hour instead and encourage a healthy hobby that can last a lifetime.

Chocolate, cola and caffeine in general should be off limits in the late afternoon and evening. There’s nothing more difficult than trying to get a kid on a so-called “sugar rush” to sleep.

Back to school can be a stressful time for families, but introducing these healthy habits can help kids adjust to early school start times, even if young people aren’t suited for early hours.

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Many Children in Mental Health Treatment Medicated for Insomnia

Parents and their children are both increasingly turning to the medicine cabinet to meet their sleep needs. One specific population of school-aged kids and adolescents seems to be the most medicated for sleep. Nearly a third of children in therapy for psychiatric or behavioral disorders are treated for insomnia using prescription and over-the-counter medications, a new study suggests.

Nearly all of the 1,300 participating members of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry said they prescribed at least one sleep medication per month. About 88 percent said they recommended over-the-counter treatments for insomnia.

Recommended medications included antihistamines and the antidepressant trazadone, which is often prescribed off-label for insomnia. Clinicians surveyed in the study also prescribed drugs with psychiatric or behavioral effects such as antipsychotics and anticonvulsants for insomnia.

The principal author of the study notes that most often the sleep medications are used to manage the effects of sleep disruption on daytime functioning. The average participating psychiatrist reported seeing about 70 children per month. Older children were more frequently treated for insomnia.

While most insomnia patients were older than six years old, clinical psychiatrists reported more than 20 percent of preschool-aged patients were affected by insomnia.

The complete study will be published in the August 1st issue of Sleep Medicine.

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Alcohol Use Risk Rises for Adolescents with Sleep Problems

Teens that develop sleep problems around the onset of puberty are more likely to use alcohol. A new study connects previous findings on adolescent sleep problems and alcohol use to puberty.

Some early-maturing adolescents develop “night owl” tendencies during the sleep pattern transition associated with the onset of puberty. Those individuals are most at-risk to develop sleep problems.

Separate research shows adolescents who hit puberty earlier than their peers are more likely to drink.

Survey data shows a clear link between those two groups. The early-maturing teens that get to sleep later were more likely to use alcohol.

The findings are in line with previous research on adults; Sleep problems can predict the onset of alcohol abuse.

The conclusion was based on questionnaires from a previous study involving Dutch school children. The authors narrowed down the field to only responses from adolescents ages 11 to 14. The findings were consistent across both genders and all education levels included in the study.

The findings will be featured in the September issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. The abstract is available online prior to publication.

Photo Courtesy Paul Hocksener

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Pregnant smoking linked to childhood sleep problems

A new study gives soon-to-be moms another reason to butt out. Doctors across several U.S. cities combined efforts to look at how using various substances during pregnancy affected children’s sleep.

Alcohol, cocaine, marijuana and opiates had no noticeable effects, but pregnant mothers who used nicotine products tended to have children with sleep problems.

Researchers regularly checked up on a group of 808 children throughout the first 12 years of their lives.

The authors did not reveal the exact percentage of children with sleep problems. Instead of counting the number of individuals who had sleep problems they created a scoring system to account for the combined conditions, including insomnia, sleepwalking, sleep talking.

After adjusting for external factors, like socioeconomic status, the authors discovered children exposed to nicotine scored highest. Children whose mothers smoked tended to have sleep problems from birth all the way to their 12th birthday.

One of the authors of the study told Reuters Health the findings should not be misinterpreted, all prenatal substance abuse is harmful. Smoking is unique because it happens so frequently.

She said researchers couldn’t find out the exact effects of nicotine during pregnancy because many of the mothers in the study used multiple substances while pregnant.

Perhaps not coincidentally, a past study found young boys with sleep problems were more likely to start smoking at an early age.


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Ear Tubes, Snoring & Sleep Apnea in Children

A recent study examined the risk of sleep-disordered breathing in children who had ear tubes inserted.

The study from Israel involved 352 children with ear tubes. Another 105 children were included as controls. Parents were interviewed by phone.

Results show that sleep-disordered breathing was common in children who had ear tubes inserted. Twenty-two percent of parents reported that their child snores.

Tonsils had been removed from 18 percent of children with ear tubes. This surgery is a common treatment for obstructive sleep apnea in children. Thirty-four percent of children snored or had their tonsils removed after the ear tubes were inserted.

Children with ear tubes were four times more likely than controls to have future tonsil removal. Their risk for snoring was three times higher.

The authors reported that sleep-disordered breathing shares common mechanisms with Eustachian tube dysfunction. This tube extends from the middle ear to the throat.

They concluded that children who need ear tubes inserted are at risk for sleep-disordered breathing. Doctors should regularly check these children for symptoms of sleep apnea. This will allow for early detection and treatment.

MedlinePlus reports that ear tube insertion helps relieve fluid buildup behind a child’s eardrum. The tubes allow the fluid to drain so that the ears can function normally. Another name for the procedure is “tympanostomy tube insertion.”

It may be recommended when excess fluid in the ear does not go away after four months or longer. Tubes also may be inserted if an ear infection does not go away or if a child has many ear infections.

The AASM reports that about two percent of healthy young children have OSA. It occurs when soft tissue in the back of the throat collapses and blocks the airway during sleep.

Most children with OSA have a history of loud snoring. This may include obvious pauses in breathing and gasps for breath. Parents often notice that the child seems to be working hard to breathe during sleep.

Read more about obstructive sleep apnea in children. Get help at an AASM-accredited sleep center near you.

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Sleep & IQ: Are Kids Smarter if They Sleep Longer?

A new study from Canada examined the relationship between sleep duration and intelligence in children.

The study involved 39 healthy children. They were between 7 and 11 years old. Their sleep was measured at home by actigraphy for four nights. This identified their habitual sleep duration on weeknights.

Intelligence was measured using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children — Fourth Edition. The WISC-IV provides four index scores and a full-scale IQ score.

Results show that children who slept longer performed better on the WISC-IV. Longer habitual sleep duration was associated with higher overall IQ scores.

Getting more sleep also was related to better perceptual reasoning. This involves solving problems using visual, non-verbal information. And reported competence and academic performance were higher in children who slept longer.

Last year the Sleep Education Blog reported on how you can help your child sleep better. The AASM recommends that children between the ages of 7 and 11 get about 10 hours of nightly sleep.

Basic tips that parents should put into practice include:

• Letting children fall asleep independently


• Putting children to bed before 9 p.m.


• Establishing a bedtime routine that includes reading


• Helping children avoid caffeine


• Keeping a TV out of the bedroom

Research also has shown that long-lasting sleep problems in children can affect their cognitive development. Get help for your child’s ongoing sleep problem at an AASM-accredited sleep center near you.

Read more about sleep and children.

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Sleep Parenting Across Cultures

Last week a Salon article addressed the controversial topic of sleep parenting. Ada Calhoun shared how she and her husband grappled with conflicting advice about what was best for their newborn.

“Cry it out” sleep training. Attachment parenting. Baby management. New parents can become overwhelmed by all of the advice offered by parenting books.

Now Calhoun is joining the debate with her own book. Instinctive Parenting advises parents to “find what works for you and your family and ditch the anxiety and judgment.”



But sleep parenting can vary widely across cultures. A recent study compared countries that are mostly Caucasian with those that are primarily Asian.

The study involved parents of 29,287 infants and toddlers. Seventeen countries were represented. Parents completed a questionnaire on the Internet.

Results published in March show that young children in Asian countries went to bed later and slept less. Bed sharing and room sharing also were more common in their homes.

Bedtimes ranged from 7:27 p.m. in New Zealand to 10:17 p.m. in Hong Kong. Total sleep time ranged from 11.6 hours in Japan to 13.3 hours in New Zealand.

In New Zealand only 5.8 percent of parents reported sharing a bed with their infant or toddler. In contrast bed sharing was reported by 83.2 percent of parents in Vietnam.

The initial results of the study were presented at SLEEP 2008. Another report based on the research will be published in April.

It shows that 57 percent of parents in Caucasian countries reported that their child falls asleep independently in his or her own crib or bed. This was reported by just four percent of parents in primarily Asian regions.

In 2006 the AASM published practice parameters for bedtime problems and night wakings in young children and infants. A task force of experts reviewed all of the current research on this topic.

The report recommends sleep training to help infants and toddlers learn to fall asleep on their own. You can read a summary of the report on SleepEducation.com.

Discuss any ongoing sleep problems with your child’s doctor. He or she may refer you to an AASM-accredited sleep center for help.

Read more about sleep and children.

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Getting Your Child to Sleep…Alone

Earlier this week on ABC, “Good Morning America” offered advice for parents whose children don’t like to sleep alone.

GMA correspondent Cameron Mathison went on a special assignment to tackle the issue. The location? His own house.


He and his wife Vanessa had been struggling to keep their two kids from sleeping in Mom and Dad’s bed. These co-sleeping parents would prefer to be sleeping solo. So family sleep therapist Jennifer Waldburger from Sleepy Planet came to the rescue.

She said that the whole family benefits when children learn to sleep well. Children who get enough sleep are smarter and happier, and they behave better.

“The benefits are huge,” Waldburger said. “As much as you love your kids now, you’re gonna’ love them even more when they are sleeping.”

She offered a variety of strategies to help parents who have this common problem. These included using morning rewards and having a “sleep party” in the children’s rooms.

After giving it a try, Cameron reports that they have had success for five days in a row.

“It worked!” he told GMA host George Stephanopoulos. “The point is they’re getting the sleep that they needed.”

Hundreds of viewers wrote the show with their own questions. Parenting expert Elizabeth Pantley answered some of these questions online.

Last month the Sleep Education Blog reported that “Living Well with Leisa” host Leisa Naples found a creative way to get her girls to wind down at night. She calls it “Family Spa Night.”

What about you? How have you taught your children to sleep in their own beds?

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Let’s Sleep: Preventing Obesity in Children

Yesterday first lady Michelle Obama introduced the new “Let’s Move” campaign. She is taking on the issue of childhood obesity.

The campaign is backed by a presidential memorandum signed by President Obama. It establishes a task force on childhood obesity.



One key component of the Let’s Move campaign is to help parents make healthy choices. How can parents help their children maintain a healthy weight?

A new study suggests that one way it to make sure that children get enough sleep. This is one of three household routines that may help prevent obesity in children.

The study involved 8,550 children who were born in the U.S. in 2001. They were a part of the birth cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. Data were collected in 2005 when the children were 4 years old.

Obesity was determined by their height and weight measurements. The study also examined their exposure to three household routines:

• Eating the evening meal as a family more than five nights per week
• Sleeping for at least 10.5 hours per night on weekdays
• Watching no more than two hours of TV or videos per day on weekdays

Results show that 18 percent of children were obese. About 58 percent of parents reported that their child slept at least 10.5 hours per night.

The rate of obesity was 36 percent to 37 percent lower in children exposed to any two or all three of the routines. Exposure to only one routine reduced the odds of obesity by 16 percent.

“The routines were protective even among groups that typically have a high risk for obesity,” lead author Sarah Anderson said in a news release. “This is important because it suggests that there’s a potential for these routines to be useful targets for obesity prevention in all children.”

So which of the three routines was most important? Anderson said that each of the three routines appeared to be helpful.

“What this suggests is that you can’t point to any one of these routines,” she said. “Each one appears to be associated with a lower risk of obesity, and having more of these routines appears to lower the risk further.”

In October the Sleep Education Blog reported on sleep duration and obesity in children. A recent study found that children who slept less than eight hours on weekdays were more than two times more likely to be overweight or obese.

Read more about sleep and obesity and sleep and children.

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Getting Young Children to Sleep

Leisa Naples knows how hard it can be to get young children to sleep at night. She is the mother of two sets of identical twin girls.

But the host and producer of “Living Well with Leisa” found a creative way to get her girls to wind down at night. She calls it “Family Spa Night.”



A recent study showed that Leisa’s idea may be a good one. It found that a simple, four-step, nightly routine helps young children sleep better.

The first step was for mothers to give their child a bath. The second step was to give a massage to infants or apply lotion to toddlers. The third step was to engage their child in quiet activities. This might involve cuddling or singing a lullaby. Finally the mothers turned out the lights within 30 minutes of the end of the bath.

Another study confirmed that poor “sleep hygiene” has a negative effect on the sleep patterns of young children. The authors concluded that good sleep hygiene helps young children sleep better.

Basic tips that parents should put into practice include:

• Letting children fall asleep independently
• Putting children to bed before 9 p.m.
• Establishing a bedtime routine that includes reading
• Helping children avoid caffeine
• Keeping a TV out of the bedroom

Read more about sleep and children.

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Targeting Tonsils to Treat Child Sleep Apnea

A new study examined the genetic basis of enlarged tonsils in children with obstructive sleep apnea.

The study involved 18 children with OSA. They were compared with 18 children who had recurrent tonsillar infections. All of the children had surgery to remove their tonsils. Then the tonsil tissue from each child was analyzed.

"We found that in the tonsil tissues of children with OSA, certain genes and gene networks were over expressed," study co-author Dr. David Gozal said in a news release.

They found that children with OSA had higher levels of a protein called phosphoserine phosphatase (PSPH). This protein almost never appeared in the tonsils of the children who did not have OSA.

Then they experimented with a phosphatase inhibitor to block this protein. It reduced the cell proliferation and increased programmed cell death.

"Together, these observations suggest that PSPH is a logical therapeutic target in reversing adenotonsillar enlargement in pediatric OSA," said Gozal.

Recently Gozal reported that the urine concentrations of certain proteins were altered in children with OSA. The results suggested that a urine teat may be able to detect sleep apnea in children.

The AASM reports that about two percent of healthy young children have OSA. It occurs when soft tissue in the back of the throat collapses and blocks the airway during sleep.

Most children with OSA have a history of loud snoring. This may include obvious pauses in breathing and gasps for breath. Parents often notice that the child seems to be working hard to breathe during sleep.

Last year the Sleep Education Blog reported that the causes of sleep apnea in children are complex. Sleep apnea often occurs when a child has large tonsils and adenoids. But weight and nasal problems also can play a role.

Removing the tonsils is a common treatment for sleep apnea in children. But some children may continue to have OSA even after the procedure.

Read more about obstructive sleep apnea in children. Get help at an AASM-accredited sleep center near you.

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Child Symptoms of ADHD & Sleep Loss Can Be Confused

Australian pediatric sleep expert Dr. Chris Seton recently told the Sydney Morning-Herald that it is very possible to confuse symptoms of ADHD with the effects of sleep deprivation in children.

“A tired five-year-old and a five-year-old with ADHD can both act in the same way," he said. "There's probably a common pathway, but so far researchers have been unable to find what it is."

Last year the Sleep Education Blog reported that children respond to sleep loss in a different way than adults. Sleep-deprived adults tend to be sleepy and sluggish during the day. But sleep-deprived children are often hyperactive.

What could be keeping your child from getting enough sleep? Typically, a combination of biological, social and educational factors.

Recently the Sleep Education Blog reported that children and teens between 8 and 18 years old spend more than 7.5 hours a day watching TV and using electronic devices like cell phones and computers.

Homework, extracurricular activities and time with friends also often cut into sleep time.

Sleep deprivation is linked with behavioral problems and mood disorders in children. Students who are not getting the sleep they need also tend to do worse in school.

How do parents know if their child is sleep deprived? Seton said that a child who can wake up in the morning without an alarm clock is probably getting enough sleep.

ADHD is a serious condition that affects a large number of children. And sleep deprivation is a common alternative explanation for a child’s misconduct. You may want to monitor your child’s sleep habits if you notice changes in his or her behavior.

The AASM recommends that school-aged children sleep between nine and 10 hours each night.

Parents should enforce bedtimes and a nightly routine to help their children get an adequate amount of sleep each night. Sleep experts also recommend keeping the TV and other electronics out of the bedroom.

Learn more about sleep and children. Get help for a sleep problem at an AASM-accredited sleep center near you.

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Less Time to Sleep for Media-Savvy Children & Teens?

A new report shows that children and teens are spending more time using media for entertainment. This increase is driven in large part by access to mobile devices.

The report was released by the Kaiser Family Foundation. It involved a 2009 survey of 2,002 students. They were in the 3rd to 12th grades. Their ages ranged from 8 to 18 years.

The study covered TV, movies, computers, video games, music/audio and print Results were compared with a 2004 survey.

Results show that students reported using entertainment media for more than 53 hours per week. Their average daily recreational media usage was seven hours and 38 minutes. This was an hour and 17 minutes more per day than in 2004.



In the past five years the percentage of students who owned a cell phone increased from 39 percent to 66 percent. Ownership of an iPod or other MP3 player increased from 18 percent to 76 percent.

Only about three in ten students reported that they have rules about how much time they can spend using entertainment media. Media usage dropped by nearly three hours per day when parents set limits.

Seventy-one percent of students reported that they have a TV in their bedroom. Fifty percent said they have a console video game player in their room.

“When children are spending this much time doing anything, we need to understand how it’s affecting them – for good and bad,” Drew Altman, PhD, said in a news release. He is the president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Last year the Sleep Education Blog reported that technology may be taking a toll on teens’ sleep. And studies have examined the relationship between TV viewing and sleep problems in children.

The AASM recommends that parents keep the TV and computer out of their teen’s bedroom. Parents also should set a “communication curfew” at night; set a time after which your teen can no longer talk on the phone or send text messages, instant messages or e-mails.

Learn more about teens and sleep loss on SleepEducation.com. Parents can get more tips for teen bed times.

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