Snoring – and the health problems it causes – is a problem that has long been believed to be the preserve of adults. But new research shows that snoring kids also suffer when they’re awake.
Children who snore regularly show signs of structural changes in their brains that can lead to behavioral problems, such as lack of focus, hyperactivity and cognitive problems, at the expense of their education.
The new study, published in the journal Nature Communications, first noted that children who snore three or more times a week exhibited thinner gray matter in the brain compared to children who sleep normally. Poor sleep has been shown to reduce gray matter, the areas of the brain most densely packed with neurons, which play critical roles in everyday activities, particularly in terms of impulse control and reasoning skills.
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have viewed MRI images of more than 10,000 children 9 to 10 years old enrolled in the National Institutes of Health’s Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, or ABCD Study, a long-term project to study the brain of monitor children health in the US.
“These brain changes are similar to what you would see in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,” said lead author Dr. Amal Isaiah. “Children lose their cognitive control, which is also accompanied by disruptive behavior.”
Obstructive sleep disorders, including snoring, mouth breathing, and breathing pauses during sleep, affect up to 10% of American children – more than 7 million – according to researchers. They added that a “significant” portion of those cases could be misdiagnosed as ADHD and treated with stimulants – potentially complicating sleep.
“If you have a child who snores more than twice a week, that child should be evaluated,” Isaiah advised. “We now have strong structural evidence from brain imaging to underscore the importance of diagnosing and treating sleep disorders in children.”
Isaiah called the project “the largest study of its kind describing the link between snoring and brain abnormalities”.
For most, the condition can be corrected via tonsillectomy or adenoidectomy. “Timely recognition” of the issue is critical, said study co-author Dr. Linda Chang.
“We know that the brain can repair itself, especially in children,” Chang said. “More research is needed to validate such mechanisms for these relationships, which may also lead to further treatment approaches.”
If only scientists could come up with a formula to simply convince children to go to bed at all – an often futile effort in which parents lose up to six days of sleep a year.