There’s nothing sweeter than a sleeping child, and it can also be very adorable to feel your bewildered child let out the occasional snoring.
But if your child snores several days a week, it’s something you need to pay close attention to, according to a large new study. The research, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, found a link between frequent snoring and structural brain changes in children, as well as behavioral problems such as hyperactivity and inattention.
The researchers looked at MRI brain imaging data from more than 10,000 children ages 9 to 10 in the United States, as well as data from the parents of these children on how often their children snore and standard checklists. which were used to measure several different areas of childhood. behavior.
The researchers found that children who snore regularly (three or more times a week) had finer gray matter in various areas of the brain, including those that help control reasoning and impulse control.
“They are parts of the brain responsible for regulating behavior. … It applies to mindfulness and what we call “cognitive flexibility,” which is basically the regulation of one’s own behavior, ”said the study’s researcher, Dr. Amal Isaiah, an associate professor of otorhinolaryngology, University of Maryland School of Medicine HuffPost.
Frequent snorers also tended to show an increasing severity of “problem behaviors,” he added.
“I can’t say there is a cause and an effect here,” Isaiah said. “But from a biological perspective, if you think about snoring it means the air doesn’t flow freely.” This could mean that children wake up frequently or that it could actually change the way children’s blood carries oxygen to the brain, which would mean they don’t have enough. And it’s possible that either (or both) of these mechanisms may be behind the link between changes in brain structure and children’s behavior, he said.
Estimates suggest that nearly 30% of children have minor and occasional snoring, while between 10% and 12% of children experience primary snoring, or snoring that occurs more than two nights a week and occurs frequently. throughout the night. A smaller percentage of children face obstructive sleep apnea, which is a more severe sleep disorder that causes a person to stop and start breathing repeatedly while sleeping.
The new findings aren’t the first to link snoring to brain changes and possible behavioral problems in children, but it’s the largest study to date to confirm the connection, Isaiah said.
He noted that the findings significantly reinforce the American Academy of Pediatrics’ guidelines that parents should take their children’s snoring seriously.
The group has long said it is important for parents and caregivers of frequent snoring to talk to their child’s health care provider because it can be so detrimental to sleep, on which children depend in many ways.
And, as with adults, snoring can be treated in children. In some cases, it requires surgery to remove a child’s tonsils and adenoids, which can clog the airways. In other cases, simple adjustments to a child’s sleep environment may be enough to help relieve snoring or at least reduce the likelihood that children will be adversely affected by fragmented sleep. These types of changes can be quite basic, such as setting a consistent sleep schedule and setting up children’s rooms to be as quiet and comfortable as possible, says the Dream Foundation.
Ultimately, the message for snorers ’parents is not to panic, but to ignore the issue as well.
“You don’t have to rush to treatment right now, but it’s something you should consider with your pediatrician,” Isaiah said.