Frequent Snoring In Children Can Cause Diabetes According To New Research

A lot of people think that snoring is only really a problem for adults, however whilst it is definitely more common amongst adults, and men in particular, you may well find that your children snore quite a lot as well.

Compared to some health problems that they may have, this may not seem like a major issue. Nevertheless doctors have recently been warning parents that frequent snoring could potentially affect their children's long-term health and wellbeing.

This is because of the effect that snoring is said to have on a child's metabolism, which in turn could lead on to diabetes and other health disorders.

Dr Sally Davidson Ward, who led a study which did some research into this very subject just recently, warned about the dangers of frequent snoring amongst children, and had this to say with regards to how snoring can affect a child's overall health:

"When you have arousals from sleep it activates what we call the fight-or-flight reflex and that turns on your sympathetic nervous system. Through that repetitive activation, we believe that impacts glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity. And that can lead to weight gain, even diabetes."

"Your sleep is disrupted, that may change your metabolism so you can become more obese. It's definitely a vicious cycle that needs interruption. Insulin is the hormone we use to put sugar in the cells so we can use it as a fuel. So if cells become insensitive to that, the blood sugar can rise, and you can develop diabetes."

So I guess the point is that even though you may find it endearing if your child snores quite often when she is sound asleep in bed, it may be worth discussing this issue with your doctor if snoring seems to be a persistent problem.

Just the indication of a possible breathing disorder is bad enough, but the fact that scientists have found that it can lead to diabetes and can sometimes cause other health problems is reason enough to see your family doctor and get a proper diagnosis of the cause of your child's snoring.

Parents of these children who have some kind of snoring problem themselves may also want to think about getting their own problem looked at as well. This is because snoring can lead to health problems in adults as well, particularly if their breathing and sleeping is regularly interrupted during the night because of their snoring.