I find this stuff, so interesting and sad in a way. Snoring is something that we fully don’t understand and we are only now opening up huge doors of wisdom on what is really happening to people that snore, even children.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Three- to six-year-old children who snore have more symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as attention and language problems, than their age-matched counterparts who do not snore, Finnish researchers report.

“Our study brings out snoring as a possible risk factor for mood problems and cognitive impairment in preschool-aged children,” Dr. Eeva T. Aronen, of Helsinki University Central Hospital, told Reuters Health.

Among 43 preschoolers who snored at least once or twice a week, according to their parents, and 46 preschoolers who did not snore, Aronen’s team found a higher rate of mood problems, especially symptoms of anxiety and depression, among the snorers.

“Overall, 22 percent of snoring children had mood disorder symptoms severe enough to warrant clinical evaluation, compared to 11 percent of the children who did not snore,” Aronen said.

“Surprisingly and against our expectations, behavioral types of problems, such as aggressive and hyperactive behavior, were no more frequent among preschool-aged children who snored in this study,” Aronen added.

According to a report of the study published in the in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, the snoring children were also more likely to have other sleep problems, such as nightmares, talking in their sleep, or difficulties going to bed.

Brain function tests also showed some significant differences between the snorers and non-snorers, including decreased attention and language skills among children who snored.

Snoring is a common symptom of sleep-disordered breathing, which is caused by obstruction of the upper airway during sleep. Knowing the mental health and developmental impact of sleep-disordered breathing in preschool-aged children will help pediatricians and other health care professionals recognize the underlying sleep problem, Aronen and colleagues believe. “This makes intervening possible before underachieving at school or before more difficult emotional and/or behavioral symptoms develop,” they wrote in their report.

I thought that this was interesting and thought I’d pass this information onto you. Source

About one in four children don’t, but their problems are often missed, according to new research from The American Academy of Sleep Medicine that suggests pediatricians may be under-diagnosing sleep disorders in children.

CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton discussed the study on The Early Show Monday, and what you can look for and do if you think your child is suffering from a sleep disorder.

The study found only four percent of 150,000 children researched in Pennsylvania, from birth to age 18, were diagnosed with a disorder, which is substantially less than the estimated 25 percent of children who suffer from a sleep disorder in larger studies.

Undiagnosed disorders, such as insomnia, sleep apnea, night terrors, sleepwalking, snoring, grinding teeth, and bedwetting, Ashton said, are all disruptions in sleep that can impact a child’s learning, growth and development.

A lot of people don’t seem to realize the pressure an open jaw puts on the throat. Try it with me now. Open your mouth and try to swallow. You can’t do it. Your throat has too much pressure on it to even swallow. This is what it is like when you’re sound asleep. That’s what leads to the sounds of your snoring. I’ll point out too that you don’t necessarily have to have your mouth open for this to occur. Your muscles go loose when you fall asleep, and so does your jaw muscles. Your mouth may be closed, but it is still unsupported.

A jaw supporter is going to solve this problem completely and I think it is one of the best investments you can make. It is very supportive and comfortable. It’s not like this is going to interfere with your sleep. It also works the first night you apply it.

Australian researches have found a change in the brains biochemistry when someone suffers from snoring and apnea that resembles a similar biochemistry to a person that had a severe stroke. That’s a scary thought isn’t it. A similar biochemistry as a severe stroke. If you don’t know what a stroke is, it’s when there is some sort of blood clot to the brain.

Scary scary stuff. Fixing the problem should definitely be a top priority. Check out some of the solutions I have posted about.

Here is more information from The Age:

Sleep apnoea sufferers who snore may be severely impairing their brain function, Australian researchers have found.

Researchers studied the brains of 13 men with severe, untreated, obstructive sleep apnoea and found that even a slight lack of oxygen supply to the brain has an effect on function.