The IAA One Minute Blog

While children can certainly be irritable in the morning, sometimes it is more than just not being a morning person. Like adults, children can suffer from sleep apnea, which can affect their behavior. According to the National Sleep Foundation, two to three percent of children of all ages have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), including newborn children. 

What is Obstructive Sleep Apnea?

When we sleep our muscles relax. This includes the muscles in the back of your throat that help keep the airway open. With OSA, these muscles relax too much and collapse the airway making it hard to breathe.  Breathing temporarily pauses during sleep for more than two breathes cycles, which can happen up to 70 times an hour. Oxygen levels in the blood plummet, which then triggers the brain to briefly wake us up so that the airway reopens. Most of the time this process happens quickly and children go right back to sleep without knowing they woke up. But this pattern repeats itself all night, so those who have it do not reach a deeper, more restful level of sleep.

Signs that your child might have OSA are:

• Daytime sleepiness or behavioral problems
• Excessive sweating at night because of the strain of trying to breathe
• Heavy breathing while sleeping
• Long pauses in breathing while sleeping (longer than two breathe cycles)
• Loud snoring often with gasping, choking and snorts
• Very restless sleep and sleeping in unusual positions
• Waking up with headaches  and irritability, hyperactivity, and difficulty concentrating

Because OSA makes it hard to get a good night’s sleep, kids might have a hard time waking up in the morning, be tired throughout the day, and have attention or behavioral problems. As a result, sleep apnea can hurt school performance. Teachers may think a child has attention deficit hyper activity disorder or learning difficulties. Studies have suggested that as many as 25 percent of children diagnosed with ADHD  may actually have symptoms of OSA and that much of their difficulty and behavior problems can be the consequence of chronic fragmented sleep. 

Risk Factors

One to four percent of children have OSA, but many go undiagnosed and untreated because people do not recognize the symptoms. Risk factors for OSA are:

• Being obese: Several recent studies show a strong association between pediatric sleep disorders and childhood obesity
• Enlarged tonsils and/or adenoids (lymph nodes in the throat, behind the nose)
• Exposure to tobacco smoke
• Having a small jaw
• Larger  than usual tongue, which can fall back and block the airway

Surgical removal of the adenoids and tonsils is the most common treatment for pediatric OSA. The operation can result in complete elimination of OSA symptoms 70 to 90 percent of the time. Weight management, including nutritional, exercise, and behavioral elements, should be strongly encouraged for all children with OSA who are overweight or obese.

What IAA has to Say

Insurance Administrator of America wants your children to have a healthy good night’s sleep. A good night of sleep is important to for everyone, especially young children. Just think of IAA as you third party sandman, wishing your children a night of restful sleep. Remember, with IAA one call does it all.

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