儿童睡觉长期打鼾将影响发育

Snoring can be pretty disturbing to people who sleep in the company of snorers, as well as to the snorer himself or herself, though she may not realize it. For instance, some snorers have a condition called obstructive sleep apnea. Their airways become obstructed various times while they’re sleeping, and each time this happens the snorer briefly stops breathing.

睡在打呼噜的人附近，听着隆隆的呼噜是件很痛苦的事情。而对于打呼者本身，虽然他们自己意识不到，打呼噜对他们也是有害的。比如，一些打呼者患有叫做阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停综合征的疾病。在睡觉时，他们的气管时不时地阻塞，而每次气管阻塞，打呼者都会暂时性窒息。

What’s more, obstructive sleep apnea has been shown to affect the cognitive abilities and behavior of children with the condition. They demonstrate difficulties with language and attentiveness, and they score lower on overall tests of intelligence.

不仅如此，有证据表明，阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停综合征会影响儿童的认知能力和行为方式。患有此病的儿童表现出语言障碍，难于集中注意力，他们在智力测验中得分也相对较低。

Until now it has not been known whether children who snore, but do not have obstructive sleep apnea, are at risk, too, for these cognitive and behavioral problems. However, recent research shows that many children without this particular condition, but whononetheless snore, do test significantly lower than do non-snorers in these same areas of cognition and behavior. Which children who snore are at risk and which are not is not clear yet and will require further research.

目前，还不得而知的是，打呼但是未患有阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停综合中的儿童是否也有风险遇到认知和行为方面的问题。然而，最近的调查发现，很多未患有上述疾病但打呼的儿童在关于认知能力和行为的智力测验中，得分明显低于那些不打呼的儿童。在打呼的儿童中，哪些是有风险遇到认知和行为方面的问题，哪些是没有的，还需要进一步的调查研究。

In the meantime, if your child snores frequently and here she seems to experience learning and/or behavioral problems, you might consult a sleep specialist to find out whether or not your child has obstructive sleep apnea. There are various causes of frequent snoring and obstructive sleep apnea, but the most common causes are enlarged tonsils and an enlarged adenoids. In these cases the removal of the tonsils or adenoids can be an effective treatment.

如果你的孩子经常打呼，并且有学习和/或行为方面的问题，你可以去咨询睡眠专家，看看你的孩子是否患有阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停综合征。有很多原因可以造成打呼和阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停，但是最常见的是扁桃体肥大， 淋巴腺肿大。在这种情况下，有效的治疗手段就是进行扁桃体和淋巴腺的切除。

new words:

apnea:呼吸暂停

cognitive:认知的

tonsil:扁桃体

adenoids:腺状肿大