While it may be comforting to hear your child sawing logs through the night, new research indicates that snoring may be linked to poor performance in school. A new study out of New Zealand compiled the data from 16 studies conducted in 12 different countries and found that the academic scores of children who experienced sleep-disordered breathing (like snoring and sleep apnea) were about 12 percent lower than those of their fellow students.
It probably doesn't come as a huge shock to parents to hear that poor sleep leads to poor grades, but I, for one, didn't realize that snoring was a sleep problem. I assumed that some people just snore when they're sleeping soundly. But, in light of these studies, we can see that snoring is a red flag and parents would be wise to search out ways to help a snoring child sleep better.
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If your kid snores, here are some ways to help her sleep more soundly:
Slow down the schedule
"Participation in too many after-school activities can get kids amped up, pushing back dinnertime, homework time—and bedtime," according to WebMD. "Compared to 1981, now the average kid has almost two hours less of unstructured time each day." If you think your child should be sleeping better, cut out some extracurriculars and allow more unstructured time in the day.
Easier said than done, I know, but a simple change of sleep position might be all your child needs to stop snoring and sleep better. T
Limit screen time before bed
Playing video games before bed can mess with your child's sleep, as can the blue light from pretty much any screen they may watch. If you're serious about helping your kids sleep better, cut the cord and make the hours before bed screen-free time.
Try changing sleep positions
Easier said than done, I know, but a simple change of sleep position might be all your child needs to stop snoring and sleep better. Try propping her up a little with a pillow or encouraging her to sleep on her side instead of her back. One ingenious trick to keep your child from rolling to her back in the night is to tape tennis balls to the back of her pajamas.
RELATED: 10 Tips That Guarantee a Better Night's Sleep
See a doctor
Snoring might seem like a silly thing to ask your doctor about, but it could be caused by allergies or a deviated septum… both of those can cause a host of other seemingly unrelated problems. If simple solutions aren't working, talk to your child's pediatrician.
