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"Sleep-disordered
breathing" is a term for a group of conditions that can interfere with normal
breathing while people sleep. These include snoring, mouth-breathing and sleep
apnea. Sleep-disordered breathing can do more than just leave people feeling
tired the next day. It can also affect people's health. In children the effects
can include behavioral and emotional problems.
In a new study, researchers asked
parents about their children's breathing from when they were babies up to about
age six. The parents also answered questions about behavior at ages four and
seven. Karen Bonuck at the Einstein College of Medicine in New York led the
study of about eleven thousand children. She says sleep-disordered breathing was
associated with a fifty percent increase in what she calls "adverse
neurobehavioral outcomes." These included hyperactivity, aggressiveness and
problems relating to other children.Ms. Bonuck says the more serious the
breathing problems, the more serious the behavioral issues were likely to be.
Other studies have linked sleep with children's behavior, but this study was
extensive enough to reject other possible causes. The study appeared in the
journal Pediatrics. An estimated one child in ten snores regularly. A smaller
number suffer from other sleep-disordered breathing. How well do you sleep? A
popular belief is that sleep gets worse with age. But, in another new study,
those who reported the fewest problems with sleep quality were people in their
eighties.Researchers did a telephone survey of more than one hundred fifty
thousand American adults. Michael Grandner at the University of Pennsylvania
medical school says the original goal was to confirm that aging is connected
with increased sleep problems. The survey did find an increase during middle
age, worse in women than men. But except for that, people reported that their
sleep quality improved as they got older -- or, as Mr. Grandner points out, at
least they felt it did. The findings are in the journal Sleep. Health problems
and depression were linked with poor sleep. But Mr. Grandner says older people
who are not sick or depressed should be reporting better sleep. If not, they
need to talk to their doctor. "They shouldn't just ignore it," he says. Nor
should their doctor ignore it. He says health care providers generally dismiss
sleep complaints from older adults as a normal part of aging. For VOA Special
English, I'm Alex Villarreal. Get more health news and learn English at
voaspecialenglish.com.
(Adapted from a radio program broadcast
14Mar2012)
원문출처 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVf6cnAH8h0&feature=youtube_gdata