Is Excessive Daytime Sleepiness the Cause of Learning and Behavior Problems in Children?
On May 1, the results of a study by Penn State researchers was published showing that children who have learning, attention and/or behavior problems may be suffering from a condition known as excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) — even if tests indicate that they are getting enough sleep at night.
For the study, the researchers conducted sleep testing on 508 children, and asked their parents to report if their child seemed excessively sleeping during the day. Then, the children were divided into two groups: children with excessive daytime sleepiness, and those without EDS. The results, published in the May 2012 issue of SLEEP, showed that the children in the parent-reported EDS group were more likely to have “neurobehavioral” problems, including behavior/conduct problems, attention/hyperactivity and poorer performance in learning speed and working memory than children without indications of EDS. What surprised the researchers was that, even if a child was in the EDS group, few also showed signs of short (not enough) sleep when tested. As a result, the researchers did not associate short sleep with any of the learning, attention and behavior problems.
A New York Times article from April 16, 2012 entitled “Attention Problems May Be Sleep Related” also examined the relationship between children’s sleep quality and the ability to pay attention at school. The article was on another recent study called “Sleep-Disordered Breathing in a Population-Based Cohort: Behavioral Outcomes at 4 and 7 Years,” published in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
One researcher in the article noted that cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (A.D.H.D.) in children may have been misdiagnosed — that the cause of behavior such as moodiness and hyperactivity might have been due to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or other sleep disorder, which caused sleep deprivation in the child. Also, the drugs prescribed for the misdiagnosed A.D.H.D. might actually be making the child’s symptoms worse.
Impairment due to EDS in daytime cognitive and behavioral functioning can have a significant impact on children’s development, and Dr. Merrill Wise — a pediatric neurologist and sleep medicine specialist at the Methodist Healthcare Sleep Disorders Center in Memphis, Tennessee — suggests that sleep issues be looked at first when trying to diagnose a child with behavior and/or learning problems.
Parents, caretakers, teachers and doctors should take a child’s “sleepy” complaints seriously, and look for clues in a child’s behavior that may indicate sleep deprivation, excessive daytime sleepiness and symptoms such as inattentive behavior, trouble learning and paying attention and obesity. Doing so can help ensure that a child’s neurobehavioral challenges are properly diagnosed and treated, leading to better behavior, greater ability to learn and a happier child.
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