7 Startling Facts About Sleep Disorders (One you really need to know about)

If asked, it seems that nearly everyone has some sort of sleep disorder – insomnia, snoring, waking up due to reflux and hearburn, you name it.  Here are the numbers.

1.   It is estimated that 18 Million Americans have OSA (obstructive sleep apnea)

2.   More than 80% of those have not been officially diagnosed, and don’t get treated

3.   People with OSA have increased risk for:

• High blood pressure
• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Diabetes
• Depression
• Death

4.   20-40% of all adults have insomnia during any year

5.   Over 2 Million children suffer from sleep disorders, but children are affected differently than adults:

• kids may be fatigued during the day, but more likely
• they will be bouncing off the walls
• they may have attention problems:
  some children with “ADHD” simply aren’t sleeping
• they may have behavioral problems
• they may be unable to concentrate
• they may be grumpy and irritable

6.   30-40% of children do not sleep enough

7.   Sleep problems account for $15.9 Billion of our annual health care bill

Adult snoring and obstructive sleep apnea is pretty complex.  If you or other adults in your life have sleep problems, please have them checked out by a physician who is specially trained and certified in managing sleep disorders.  It could make a huge difference! It could save your life.

Fortunately, snoring and obstructive sleep apnea in children is pretty straight-forward.  Most of them are simply cured by removing the most common obstruction – their tonsils and adenoids.  I am not advocating tonsillectomy for all your children.  Just that, if your child is snoring and struggling to catch their breath while sleeping, please have them checked out.

Chronic obstructive sleep apnea has serious side effects.  If your child’s OSA can be cured by a tonsillectomy, that is high-yield.

For my own children, apnea - especially when they had a “cold” – was a huge problem. Caused daytime behavioral issues. Cured by removing the obstruction. This is one of those areas where there just aren’t any great alternatives to surgery.

Of course, now that so many of us (and our children) are obese, that may be contributing to the problem.  Obesity plays a role in obstruction of the upper airway.  If your child is struggling during sleep and they are obese, please ask your pediatrician about it. Check out a great post, and great links regarding childhood obesity, on Littlestomaks.com

If you or your child have any of the Chronic Aero-digestive Inflammatory Disorders – sleep disorders, asthma, otitis, rhinitis, reflux, sinusitis – check back here often for information and resources for managing these, and improving your life.

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Thanks for visiting, and see you here again.  I appreciate your comments and questions.  Keep ‘em coming.  Please, “be excellent to one another.”

Best of health and success to you and your families.

Until next time, remember … you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your friend’s nose (unless you’re a boogor doctor :~D)

I promise to continue to work hard to help empower you with knowledge: to improve your health and the health of your children. RF