Snoring is not normal nor is it a healthy state for children. Snoring, noisy breathing, behavioral issues, and bedwetting can all be linked to pediatric obstructive sleep apnea. Many parents notice behavioral challenges with their children who snore. For developing children, these breathing issues will lead to reduced oxygen supply to the brain, affecting the development of the brain's frontal lobe. A full analysis regarding brain development, childhood behavior and obstructive sleep disordered breathing can be found below.
The frontal lobe is crucial for higher cognitive functions including: organization, memory, social skills, decision-making, emotional regulation, and personality. This area of the brain plays a vital role in everyday life and is one of the most important parts of our cognitive system.
Diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea in children can be challenging for healthcare providers. Symptoms are often overlooked, and many children are not successfully tested, leading to missed diagnoses. Myofunctional therapy has shown to decrease mild to moderate childhood obstructive sleep apnea but 43%. Therapy is an effective, noninvasive solution for many children and their parents. If this sounds like your child, contact a myofunctional therapist and see how we can help your child breathe easier, improve development and alleviate symptoms.
To read the full meta-analysis on the effects of myofunctional therapy in children experiencing symptoms of sleep apnea, click the link below.
Bandyopadhyay, A., Kaneshiro, K., & Camacho, M. (2020). Effect of myofunctional therapy on children with obstructive sleep apnea: A meta-analysis. Sleep Medicine, 75, 210–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2020.08.003
Cleveland Clinic. (n.d.). Frontal lobe: Anatomy and function. Retrieved from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/24501-frontal-lobe
Isaiah, A., Ernst, T., Cloak, C.C. et al. Associations between frontal lobe structure, parent-reported obstructive sleep disordered breathing and childhood behavior in the ABCD dataset. Nat Commun 12, 2205 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22534-0
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