Sleep Deprivation  Article Reprint

Original Article: http://www.sleep-deprivation.com/articles/types-of-sleep-disorder/kids-and-sleep-disorders/index.php

 

Sleep Disorders in Children

Children’s sleep disorders can cause serious health problems because they often go undiagnosed for a long period of time. This could be due to the fact that children may not know that they suffer from sleep problems. Although they may be able to communicate that they are tired, explaining that their nighttime sleep isn’t restful may be more difficult for them to express, especially if they have never known anything different.

Kids’ sleeping problems also tend to have different symptoms than the same disorders in adults.
In this section, we will examine the various types of sleep disorders that affect children. Our articles outline and discuss the particular causes, symptoms and treatments for different children’s sleep disorders.

Night Terrors

Also referred to as sleep terrors or pavor nocturnes, night terrors are episodes in which people, typically children, experience an intense, scary dream episode followed by a transient inability to return to complete consciousness when awakened. Children generally don’t remember what they experienced in the terror state.

The difference between nightmares and night terrors is that, when a child experiences a nightmare, he is able to remember the dream and regain full consciousness immediately upon waking.

During a night terror, a child (still in a slow-wave, non-REM sleep stage) tends to scream, moan and desperately gasp for air. In most cases, a person falls right back asleep after experiencing a night terror (rather than fully waking up, as is the case with nightmares). Occasionally, the night terror patient will experience a seizure after the episode. Keep reading to learn more about night terrors.

Bedwetting

Also known as enuresis, bedwetting is a common childhood sleep problem in which children can’t hold their urine while in the sleep state. Bedwetting is classified as either primary or secondary enuresis. While primary enuresis describes conditions in which bedwetting starts and continues from infancy, secondary enuresis refers to cases in which bedwetting resumes after a child has already learned to control his bladder through the night.
 
Along with physical disorders, such as diabetes or urinary tract infections (UTIs), causes of bedwetting may also be psychological or emotional in nature. For example, children who suffer from anxiety or extreme stress are more likely to wet the bed than those who don’t. Read on to learn more about the treatments for bedwetting.

Sleeping All Night

One of the biggest sleep problems parents face when it comes to their children is getting kids to sleep all night. In fact, only about 70 percent of children are getting enough sleep. While your child may not complain about feeling tired when he or she doesn’t sleep through the night, lack of sleep can have negative health consequences for kids.

Because sleeping through the night is such a common sleep problem in children, having some strategies to help you kids fall and stay asleep is important. For example, most experts recommend establishing a bedtime routine (complete with a bath and bedtime story) that gets your children used to calming down and preparing for sleep. Keep reading for more helpful tips on how to get your children sleeping through the night.

Resources

Stanford (1999). Children and Sleep Disorders. Retrieved July 3, 2007 from the Stanford Web site: http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/children.html.

WebMD (2007). Help Kids Sleep Through the Night. Retrieved July 3, 2007 from the WebMD Web site: http://children.webmd.com/features/help-kids-sleep-all-night.