Sleep Disorders & Child Sleep Disorders

Who should have a sleep study?

People who have:

1. loud snoring;
2. sudden awakenings at night;
3. daytime sleepiness and lack of concentration;
4. partners who notice very irregular breathing during sleep or excessive night time movements;
5. accidents for no apparent reason; or
6. heart or lung disease which is diffucult to control.

What is a sleep study?

A sleep study monitors brain waves, breathing patterns, oxygen levels, heart activity and leg movements whilst the patient sleeps.

Patient are required to stay overnight in our Sleep Disorders Centre. Several non-invasive, painless electrodes are placed on the body.

A sleep technologist sets up the equipment and attends to the patient's needs. In the morning it is a simple task to remove the electrodes and the patient can then go home.

Sleep Disorders in Children

Childhood snoring and sleep apnoea in children has drawn a considerable amount of interest over the last few years. In the majority of cases, it is due to upper airway narrowing by nasal blockage, enlarged tonsils or adenoids or an abnormal structure or growth of the jaw, face, tongue or nose. As in adults, this narrowing can result in a reduction or complete blockage of air travelling in and out of the lungs causing breathing difficulties during sleep. Multiple arousals during sleep occur to "open up" the blocked throat.

Children can exhibit a broader range of symptoms compared with adults such as daytime sleepiness or hyperactivity and aggressiveness, poor growth, restless sleep, night terrors, poor attention and learning abilities (thus poor school performance), irritability and bed wetting. It is usually the parent's observations and concerns about the child's breathing difficulty which lead to diagnosis and treatment. It is extremely rewarding to see that following diagnosis and treatment, usually by removal of the tonsils and adenoids, these problems resolve in most cases. In some circumstances nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is used in children with persistent sleep apnoea.

NIGHT TERRORS also occur frequently in children aged usually less than 5 years old. They occur in the first third of the night's sleep and can cause considerable anguish for the parents. The parents are awakened by their child screaming hysterically and thrashing around and not able to be calmed or reassured (unlike nighmares) for up to 10 minutes. Little is known about the cause or effective treatment. Again, parents need to be reassured of the benign and self limiting nature of the arousal in the majority of cases. The parent should be instructed not to forcibly intervene during the attack and not try to wake the child as this may serve only to prolong the event. Usually the child responds best to being left alone and the parents' job is simply to ensure that no injury occurs. In nearly all cases, the child grows out of this disorder.

NIGHTMARES are very common occurring usually in older children in the middle to the last third of the sleep period. They may follow a frightening scene witnessed whilst awake, are quite disturbing for children and may make them very upset. Uplike night terrors, the child can usually recall vividly the nightmare. Reassurance that no real harm will come to the child and the passage of time are generally all that are required for attacks to stop occuring.

For specialised care in paediatric sleep disorders, please contact the Monash Medical Centre's Paediatric Sleep Disorders Unit.