sleep

Many children are plagued with sleep disorders. These disorders in and of themelves can be stressful for the families that deal with them. Sometimes the apperent sleep problems come with the territory of other mental and emotional disorders. However sometimes a sleep problem can create the symptoms of other disorders.

If you have ever been around a child who is what is commonly refered to as over tired, you will know that they can be extremely irritable, figity, talkative, defiant, etc. There are certain sleep orders that generally are not a nightly problem like Night Terrors ( though in extreme cases they can be nightly). However others are nightly problems for the child suffering them. The child may be up and down all night and even when they are sleeping, they are not resting like Periodic Limb Movement Syndrome and Restless Legs Syndrome. Children who experience these disterbances in sleep will often exibit the symptoms of illnesses like ADHD and COBPD because they are simply running on a "second wind" all the time.

Lack of sleep can really be the root cause of many problems that you might think are not even connected to each other. In my experience with my youngest son, his sleep disterbance (Periodic Limb Movement Syndrome) caused a multitude of problems including never sleeping through the night ( up and down several times), jerking in his sleep constantly, not being able to process information when spoken to directly, tempertantrums, periods of sleep during the day from which he was extremely difficult to wake from ( crashing), what seemed to be learning disabilities, slow growth, hair twirling, destructiveness, carelessness and invisable friends ( whom he blamed for his mistakes, distructiveness, etc). Since being diagnosed by a sleep specialist, he is sleeping 6 hours straight a night, his comprehension levels have drasticly increased, the ADHD types of behaviors have vanished, and his invisable friends have disappeared even to him. The hair twirling has become a sign of him being tired.

This is a list of some of the signs of these disorders. Again note that I am not a doctor or therapist of any kind and if you find that these symptoms are present in your child please contact your Doctor.

Night Terrors
Night terrors are signified by a child waking with screams and apperent fear from light sleep, usually durring the first 1/3 of he night. Once the child is calmed, most times they will have no memory of the episode and are not usually violent. However, sometimes these episodes can be violent to where the child hurts himself or others due to the extreme fear. The terrors are usually based around life threatening nightmares that are so vivid and scare the child so badly that they are not able to immediately distinguish that it was a nightmare upon waking.

Sleep Apnea
This is usually characterised by snoring or interuptions in breathing during the child's sleep. This can keep the child from sleeping well and going from deeper states of sleep to lighter states or even waking from time to time. It stops the child from getting a decent nights sleep and the good rest that they need for the next day.

Movement Disorders
These disorders are charaterized by jerking or movement during sleep. Restless Leg Syndrome or Periodic Limb Movement Syndrome, keep these childrens body's from getting the rest that they need by keeping the body moving while they are sleeping to where the body doesn't get the rest it needs. It can even cause the child to wake one time or more during the night.

Other Disorders
Sleep Disorders like Bedwetting, nightmares, sleepwalking, and insomnia, all pretty much speak for themselves as to the difficulties that they cause. Bedwetting and nightmares can cause a child to get up in the middle of the night one or more times, or even cause restless sleep. Sleepwalking can cause various difficulties like restless sleep and carrying out actions that may not normally fit the childs behavior (like swearing). Insomnia is when a person just can't seem to get to sleep no matter how tired they are. Often they lay in bed tossing and turning and trying to sleep but just can seem to.

Many of these disorders are common to see in normal children from time to time. When it is a regular occurance and bothersome, especially if you are seeing the symptoms of mood, emotional, learning or mental disorders, see your doctor.