Sleep disorders in children

Sleep disorders in children

Sleep disorders in children and infants are a widespread phenomenon, including many different types.

Sleep disorders in children

Parasomnia: One of the problems of sleep in children is widespread and passes by almost everyone. It is a physical, motor and psychological phenomena occur during sleep at an inappropriate time, such as talking and screaming during sleep, walking and sudden movements of the legs, muscle contractions, night terrors and nightmares. Walking during sleep is a good phenomenon and can be reflected in a person from his bed and roaming at home, and can eat and drink and in some cases may come out of the house. It all happens during sleep. This phenomenon is common in about 15% of children starting from the fourth generation. It is a phenomenon that often disappears on its own as you age. The risk of this sleep disorder lies in the injuries a child may receive from these behaviors during sleep, such as falling, touching sharp objects, hitting doors and glass, and other risks that sometimes require special measures of caution inside the home.


The phenomenon of talking during sleep is one of the common sleep disorders is also occurring in 10% of children and the former disappear automatically over time.

Night panic is a common type of sleep disorder of the type of sleep disorder. The child explodes screaming or crying during deep sleep, without awareness of what is happening to him or what is happening in his surroundings. It is difficult to calm the child in these cases, and the next morning the child does not remember what happened to him during his sleep. There is a similar phenomenon in terms of behavior, but it differs in terms of the process that occurs in the brain, the phenomenon of awakening after seeing nightmares. In these cases of sleep disorder, the child wakes up terrified of nightmares, aware of the fear they feel, and in the morning, the child remembers these horrible thoughts and can retrieve them. A child is aware of what is happening around him when he is terrified, which continues even after waking up.

Most sleep disorders in children automatically disappear with age without any treatment, except in certain cases requiring medication.

Sleep disruption (dyssomnia): Sleep disorders of this type relate to the number of hours of sleep, and in general, are the loss of ability to sleep and continuous naps, or vice versa - hyper-sleep / fatigue. A severe example of hypersomnia, the so-called narcolepsy, falls short of sleep or for hours.

The body performs its functions according to a biological clock suitable for hours of light and darkness. An internal biological clock may become confused in situations where a person travels long distances across continents. This phenomenon is called jet lag. This sleep disorder also occurs in workers who go on night shifts. These sleep disorders are considered healthy and transient. But there are instances where the biological clock is automatically reversed. For example, for some children with this sleep disorder who are considered to be one or two hours before dawn, they are no different from nine o'clock in the evening, and can not sleep before the brightening of the morning. These children are difficult to wake up in the morning, because waking at seven in the morning for them as four o'clock in the morning for other children. The opposite situation is rare in children and common in adults: they sleep very early at 6 or 7 pm, and wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning.

In these sleep disorders, the biological clock is shifted forward. These conditions can be treated in several ways. The basic method of controlling a biological clock is by exposure to strong light daily in the early morning hours (eg at 7 am) for half an hour. It is sometimes difficult to apply this method of treatment and therefore receive hormone melatonin as an addition to treatment.

Sleep apnea (sleep apnea):
Sleep may include a decline in respiratory condition, which can reach the point of interruption of breathing due to physiological changes (related to organ functions) during sleep. This sleep disorder includes two types:

Central sleep apnea: A sleep apnea without trying to breathe again. This phenomenon is common in infants and is associated with other diseases. The duration of short breaths is usually not significant, but in some cases it can cause a serious problem.

Obstructive sleep apnea: This phenomenon is most common in children aged 3-7 years. The main cause of this phenomenon is the obstruction of the airway in the area of ​​the posterior nose and pharynx due to swelling of the tonsils or adenoid (third amygdala, polyps). The phenomenon is common in infants, especially those with a deformity in the face building.

The risk of apnea includes children with neurological disorders, children with hypotonia / low muscle tone, as well as children who are obese. Obesity, which is the leading cause of sleep apnea in adults, has spread to children in the age of 10, as obesity has become a pandemic among children in the Western world.

The immediate consequences of sleep disorders of this type include:

    Intermittent drop in blood oxygen level which causes hypoxia in the organs and brain intermittently.
    Decreased ventilation of the lungs, ie, a decrease in the amount of air reaching the lungs, resulting in the accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2).