HEALTHLack of sleep not just an adult problemRecent studies suggest that an increasing number of children have sleep disorders; TV, the Internet, and obesity are the most cited sleep-stealers.By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. June 23, 2003. Kids and teens are getting less sleep than ever before. The quality of their sleep is deteriorating, and increasing numbers are complaining of insomnia and snoring, according to several studies presented this month during the Associated Professional Sleep Societies annual meeting in Chicago. "It's a bigger problem than anyone realizes," said Sajjan K. Nemani, MD, director of neurodiagnostic and sleep disorder services at St. Mary's Good Samaritan Hospital in Centralia, Ill. "Being asleep is just as important as being awake." Sleep experts have long been sounding the alarm about the many adults who are chronically sleep-deprived. The problem now appears to have trickled down to the under-18 set. The subject was the focus of a special session of the American Academy of Pediatrics annual conference last year and the topic of numerous studies presented at the recent APSS meeting. A study by a team of researchers at the University of Kentucky in Lexington found that sleep among healthy children and adolescents has declined significantly in quality in the past 25 years. Research conducted at Emory University in Atlanta found that more than 40% of tots attending day care did not get the 12 hours of sleep recommended for their age group. The study suggested these children may experience the greatest number of colds, flus and other infections. A study done at Brown University in Providence, R.I., suggested that insomnia and snoring were increasing among adolescents, particularly teenage girls. [...]Full text of AMNews content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2003 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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