How Many Hours Should Your Child Sleep Every Night?

February 16, 2012

How many hours should your child be sleeping? A new study found that opinions vary significantly amongst sleep experts, but the bottom line is that we’ve been saying for over 100 years that children need to sleep more. Unfortunately, the media has put a spin on this research, concluding that you should “never trust sleep experts.”

While it is true that we’ve been saying children need more sleep for years, critics are saying that there’s no evidence that children actually need more sleep. I beg to differ. It’s been reported that teens in one competitive high school sleeps an average 5-6 hours per night. We know from hundreds of studies that eve 1-2 hours of chronic sleep deprivation leads to significant declines in cognitive and behavioral measures. Adults need about 7-8 hours per night. Teens need about 8 to 9 hours per night, school-aged children, 10-11, and 3-6 year olds, anywhere from 10-12.

I know from personal experience that some of my 9 year old son’s classmates get 6-7 hours per night. I even blogged about seeing parents bring their preschool children with them to see a movie that ended at midnight. Granted everyone has different sleep needs, but if you’re saying a child can function normally on 3-5 hours of regular sleep deprivation every night, you’re fooling yourself. If your child is functioning normally, it’s more likely that he or she is being medicated with stimulants.

What’s more important than the number of hours you sleep is the quality of your sleep. Even if your child is able to sleep 10 hours per night, if she stops breathing even 1-5 times per hour, then by definition, it’s going to cause problems, whether it manifests in physical, emotional, or behavioral ways. What’s worse is if you don’t sleep efficiently, and you sleep less than you should, it’s a double whammy. We know that chronic sleep deprivation can also increase cravings for fatty, sugary foods, and promote weight gain. Sleep length has been directly linked to weight in children. No wonder there’s also an obesity epidemic in children these days.

How long do your children sleep? How much longer should they be sleeping?

Written by Steven Park · Filed Under Blog | Leave a Comment

How Finger Foods for Babies Can Prevent Obesity

February 10, 2012

Modern life leads to a number of unexpected consequences. Here’s an interesting study showing that infants that are weaned from liquid diets to finger foods rather than being spoon-fed pureé diets are much less likely to be obese later in life. In spite of the fact that infants in the spoon-fed group were offered more fruits, carbohydrates, vegetables and proteins, they wound up preferring sweets more than the self-fed children.

The most likely explanation is that early mechanical stimulation of the gums and teeth leads to more optimal dental and jaw development. This goes along with Dr. Corrucinni’s work showing that eating softer foods is associated with a higher risk of malocclusion and dental crowding. Dental crowding, by definition, increases your risk of obstructive sleep apnea by crowding your breathing passageways. Bottle-feeding can also aggravate dental crowding as well.

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How Sleep Apnea Can Lower Sperm Counts

February 4, 2012

Here’s an interesting article from 2004 showing how sperm counts in men living in Western industrialized countries are rapidly declining. In 1950, the average sperm count was 100 million sperm pr mL. in 1970, 75 million and in 1990, 50 million. Anything under 20 million is considered infertile.

We know that untreated obstructive sleep apnea can suppress reproductive hormones. External artificial hormones such as the xenoestrogens that mimic estrogen can also aggravated this problem. I’ve written extensively in the past about fertility issues in women in the past and how undiagnosed sleep-breathing problems can be a major aggravating factor. No wonder there are so many couples having trouble conceiving.

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Ask Dr. Park: Cutting Edge Surgical Options for Sleep Apnea

February 2, 2012

Please join me on Wednesday, February 22nd at 8 PM Eastern for my next Ask Dr. Park Teleseminar. This month, I’m going to do a presentation on the latest in surgical treatment options for obstructive sleep apnea:

– How to find the right surgeon

– The most common misconception about sleep apnea surgery

– Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty: What you must know

– What is surgical success?

– Pros and cons of surgery

– Information about tongue base procedures: genioglossus advancement, hyoid suspension, Repose suture suspension, Coblation tongue reduction, Robotic surgery, hypoglossal nerve stimulation, maxillo-mandibular advancement, tracheotomy.

– And much more….

Please register below and receive your access information:

* Please note different day of the week*

Written by Steven Park · Filed Under Expert Interviews | 3 Comments

How Infections Can Raise Stroke Risk In Children

February 2, 2012

Here’s an article showing that children who suffer from stoke had some sort of infection in the days leading up the event. Researchers from UCSF found that 29% of children who suffered a stroke had an infection within 2 days of the stroke, whereas only 1% had infections in the control group.

It’s likely that if you already have narrowed breathing passageways, any additional inflammation and swelling will cause even more narrowing, leading to more severe episodes of snoring or apneas. We know that obstructive sleep apnea can significantly increase your risk of stroke. Furthermore, blood in patients with obstructive sleep apnea is found to be much thicker and more prone to clotting.

I’m willing to bet that these children already had some sort of sleep-breathing problem, and the infection tipped them over the edge. Oftentimes, you’ll see large tonsils or adenoids, dental crowding, a high arched hard palate, nasal congestion, and an inability to sleep on their backs. Parents of these children are more likely to snore in this scenario.

Fortunately, this condition is rare (5/100,000), but the consequences can be devastating. This is why it’s important to pick up and address any underlying sleep-breathing issues before complications arise.

Written by Steven Park · Filed Under Blog | 1 Comment