ethnography mcfarland: Asthmatic Children Experience More Sleep Disruptions

Health and Fitness | Hair Care | * Written by Rock Jam | Monday, 03 September 2012 02:56 | Word Count: 918

A recent study has just investigated the effects of asthma in children with regard to sleep and daytime functioning. Sleep loss is a common occurrence in asthmatic children because exacerbation of asthma usually disrupts sleep at night. Sleep loss in children with asthma usually leads to school absences, low levels of sports involvement as well as frequent visits to the emergency department. When children with asthma experience sleep loss, their daytime functioning becomes disrupted as well as making them more susceptible to other illnesses and asthma exacerbation. Asthma is in fact the cause for over 10 million missed school days in a year in the US.

The study further concluded that greater sleep disruption is experienced by children with asthma in urban places such as cities because of greater distractions in the urban society. As a result, children in cities may experience even more disruptions in their daily activities.

Due to this, experts recommend that parents of children with asthma should closely monitor their children?s sleep, as healthy sleep may contribute to asthma control.

To help asthmatic children get enough sleep at night, the following recommendations may be followed:

1. Make the room of the asthmatic child free from allergens

Allergens that are freely circulating in the child?s room may lead to asthmatic attacks at night that may lead to considerable sleep loss. Allergens usually come from dust, pet dander, pollens and fungi. Make sure not to place a lot of furry stuffed toys in the child?s room. Make their room off limits to dogs and cats and make sure to wet dust the area to remove molds, pollens and dusts. Also, make sure to replace their beddings and pillow cases every two days because these can harbor molds. Naturepedic provides safer sleeping material for children. Save bucks by using Naturepedic coupon codes.

2. Give them a glass of milk before bedtime

A glass of milk is usually effective for inducing sleep even in normal children. Milk contains high amounts of tryptophan, which is a precursor of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that induces sleep. Milk also gives them proteins that help in their recovery from asthma attacks.

3. Relieve children?s anxiety

Anxiety in children usually leads to asthma exacerbations that may worsen their difficulty in breathing because of more evident hyperventilation. Parents should know how to reduce anxiety in their children. The reasons for anxiety in children may include those that originate from school and in the home. Make sure to identify these anxiety-provoking factors in your children.

Try treating them with a visit to their local restaurant or going window shopping with them. You can also ask them to help you out in the garden or jog around the park in the morning with them. In this way, you are able to divert their attention and these activities also make them more mentally and emotionally sound; thereby limiting anxiety-related asthma attacks.

4. Administer their medications regularly

Make sure not to miss any dose of their inhalers or puffs in order to prevent asthma attacks in the morning and at night. You may not know it, but missing their medications may cause more severe asthma exacerbations.

5. Visit an allergist

Nothing beats seeking professional advice from physicians specializing in asthma. Visiting an allergist reduces the number of hospitalizations by 89%, reduces missed school days by 77% and limits emergency room visits by 76%. An allergist usually assesses several of the allergens that may cause exacerbation in your child and also evaluates the efficacy of your child?s medications in relation to preventing asthma.

6. Limit giving them citrus or chocolates at night

Citrus and chocolates are possible triggers for asthma especially in children who are not used to eating them. Citrus fruits usually cause itchiness and irritation in the throat that may aggravate asthma and chocolates keep children awake at night.

These recommendations usually help children who suffer from asthma to be able to sleep soundly at night. If your child is experiencing loss of sleep because of asthma attacks, the best way to solve their sleep problems is to try and prevent asthma throughout their life.

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