A Word from Laura

Dear Readers,

April 5^th my beloved husband of 42 years passed away from COPD (emphysema).  Yes, he had smoked for over 40 years although he stopped in 1997.  However, it wasn’t soon enough.  He always thought he would be one of the lucky ones who didn’t get cancer or emphysema.  After all, not everyone does who smokes.  He was wrong.  I can’t tell you how much I miss him.

Now it’s time for me to get back to helping kids.

This month the topic is once again sleep and behavior problems.  I hope you find it interesting and helpful.  Sleep is as much “food” for the brain as the nutrients we consume in our diet.  Quality and quantity of sleep are extremely important for both children and parents!

Best wishes,

Laura J. Stevens, MS, Editor

News for You

Sleep and ADHD Revisited

An interesting, new article appeared in April in the prestigious journal Pediatrics written by researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the University of Michigan: Sleep-Disordered Breathing in a Population-Based Cohort: Behavioral Outcomes at 4 and 7 Years. 

Parents of over 11,000 children were asked about the following symptoms of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) in their children: snoring, mouth breathing and apnea at 6, 18, 30, 42, 57 and 69 months.  Apnea was identified by asking “When asleep, does he or she seem to stop breathing or hold breath for several seconds at a time?”

Parents also completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire at age 4 and 7.  This questionnaire has 5 scales—inattention/hyperactivity, emotional symptoms, peer problems, conduct problems and a pro-social scale. 

Here’s what the researchers reported:  by 4 years of age children with sleep breathing problems were approximately 20 to 40% more likely to show behavioral problems.  By 7 years they were 40 to 100% more likely.  The worse the breathing problems, the worse the behavioral problems.  Hyperactivity was the most affected neuro-behavior.  SDB at 4 years predicted behavioral problems at age 7.  The authors concluded that attention to SDB symptoms should start as early as the first year of life.

If your child has any of these breathing problems—or any other kinds of sleep problems—talk with your doctor.  This could be really important.  Most major universities have sleep clinics where psychologists and physicians diagnose and treat sleep problems.