The Link Between Snoring & Developing Learning Disabilities

Sleep is a vital contributor to cognitive health. For children, sleep is especially important for cognitive development. This is because getting good-quality sleep plays a crucial role in many different aspects of cognition, such as brain structure development, emotional regulation, learning, and memory. Without good-quality sleep, the way a child’s brain works and develops can be hindered.

Sleep patterns can change dramatically as children age and in early childhood. With those changing sleep patterns may come changing sleep habits. For example, some children may end up developing a snoring habit as they get older. And in this particular case, research has shown that children who snore could be more susceptible to developing both learning disabilities and behavioral issues. Read on for more info about the link between snoring and developing learning disabilities.

Should I be worried if my child snores?
Snoring isn’t always something that a parent should be worried about. This is especially true if it’s not a nightly occurrence. For children who habitually snore, it could signal an underlying health condition that could end up harming their learning abilities in the long run.

Snoring occurs when the airway becomes slightly blocked at the back of the throat, causing air flow to become hindered. When a child inhales or exhales during sleep, the tissue ends up vibrating, causing the noise associated with snoring. There are several different things that can cause snoring, such as large or swollen tonsils, obesity, congestion, allergies, asthma, or obstructive sleep apnea. Most of these issues aren’t all that dangerous, but the one that parents should be most concerned about is sleep apnea.

How does snoring affect your brain?
When airflow becomes hindered and snoring ensues, it’s not always going to affect the brain. However, in the case of a serious sleep disturbance disorder such as sleep apnea or nightly snoring, it can lead to major sleep disturbances. If a child does not get the good-quality sleep they need on a constant basis, their brain development will suffer.

Research has shown that this may have a lot to do with the gray matter in the brain. Gray matter is incredibly important for development because of the role it plays in complex brain functions. When it comes to focus, organization, and other executive functions, gray matter is especially important. During childhood is when these executive functions begin to develop, and they have a heavy influence on how a child behaves, learns, and socializes with others.

If snoring is happening on a nightly basis, it could lead to a stall in that brain development and ultimately consequences such as an inability to focus, impulsive behavior, and other learning disabilities. Recent research has shown that this occurs because excessive snoring can actually lead to the loss of gray matter in children.

How does sleep apnea affect learning?
Snoring, especially when it is accompanied by sleep apnea, is the biggest cause for concern when it comes to children’s brain development and learning disabilities. The condition itself is characterized as a sleep disorder that causes snoring and pauses in breathing while asleep. These pauses, no matter how brief, end up cutting off oxygen to the brain for a time. If the pause goes on for long enough, it can potentially lead to brain damage. In less severe cases, where pauses are brief, it can still lead to less oxygen in the brain and reduced sleep quality overall. This is because it reduces the amount of deep sleep a child is getting throughout the night. During the deep sleep stage of the REM cycle, the brain clears out toxic proteins. When that process is hindered, those toxins remain in the brain and affect how it functions.

Sleep apnea has also been tied to white matter damage in the brain and the shrinking of important brain regions. These two consequences of sleep apnea can lead to a disruption in the connection between neurons, ultimately leading to cognition deficits. This is why it can cause learning disabilities.

Snoring and learning disabilities
The good news about snoring and sleep apnea in children is that if the problem is addressed early enough, it can be treated. There are signs that can alert parents to the possible risk of a child developing a snoring issue. Experts say that snoring often starts out as innocent mouth breathing, so if a parent can ensure that their child can breathe comfortably through their nose through sleep, this may eliminate the mouth-breathing gateway to snoring. Identifying any other triggers that may lead to breathing problems during sleep, such as allergens, can help alleviate a child’s need to breathe through their mouth.

If these home-remedies do not fix the problem, a visit to the doctor is in order. They will give a proper assessment of the snoring and make a diagnosis based on their findings. From there, treatment can begin.

The earlier snoring is addressed, the better it will be for a child’s learning journey. Since snoring has been tied to learning disabilities, it’s something that should be investigated without delay.

Featured image by Zhenzhong Liu on Unsplash