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http://www.wndu.com/mmm/headlines/83976067.html

Written by: David Castillo on February 10th, 2010

http://www.wndu.com/mmm/headlines/83976067.html | read this item

The National Sleep Foundation says that 90 percent of parents think that their children are getting sufficient sleep, but 60 percent of high school students are reporting extreme daytime sleepiness.

More than 25 percent of high school students admit to falling asleep at least once a week during class hours.

In the ages between toddlers and teens, more than two million kids have sleep disorders.

Doctors claim that medicines and machines are the lightest treatments for the condition. Sometimes, surgeons have to take out the tonsils to eliminate the condition.

“That amount of obstruction in the back of the throat can contribute to difficulty with sleep apnea,” explains Dr. Leslie Boyce, a sleep specialist at the UNC School of Medicine.

One study even found tonsillectomies and removing adenoids improved sleep for 80-90 percent of kids.

“Even kids who don’t have official abnormalities on their sleep study, but have big tonsils and snore, actually benefit cognitively by having their tonsils removed, and they do better in school,” explained Dr. Boyce.

Sleep disorders can be hard to trace. In a pediatrics study, 28 percent of kids that were referred to the doctor also had ADHD. After treating the sleep disorder, 50 percent of ADHD affected children no longer qualified for the ADHD diagnosis.

Doctors recommend that kids in grade school should get at least 12 hours of sleep each night and teens should get nine hours of sleep.

Source: WNDU

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