Sleep Disorders In Childhood: Types, Characteristics And Symptoms

Sleep is a biological need, so when there is a lack of it or it is not completely restorative, other pathologies can develop both physically and mentally, so it is important to try to find a solution to all those disorders. of sleep; especially in a stage as crucial as childhood.

There is a wide variety of sleep disorders in childhood, among which we can find the following: insomnia, childhood apnea, nightmare disorder, sleepwalking, night terrors, somniloquy or jactatio capitis, among others.

In this article we will talk about the most well-known sleep disorders in childhood but first we are going to explain what sleep disorders in general consist of.

What are the most common sleep disorders in childhood?

People’s sleep is divided into a series of cycles of 90 minutes each that are repeated cyclically throughout the night’s rest, the most common thing being that a person goes through 4-6 cycles during the night. In each of these cycles there are various phases (phase 1, phase 2, phase 3, phase 4 and phase 5 or REM phase).

So that a dream is restful Each and every phase that makes up each sleep cycle should occur normally, in order and uninterruptedly ; However, various sleep disorders can occur in childhood that could interrupt them, causing certain problems for people’s health. Furthermore, sleep disorders in childhood occur quite frequently, being one of the problems that appear most frequently in clinical practice, both in pediatrics and psychology.

We speak of sleep disorders when we refer to any problem that is closely related to resting at night or sleeping, including difficulties when trying to fall asleep or stay asleep during the night, as well as those cases in which a person falls asleep at times that are inappropriate for it, sleeps excessively (hypersomnia) or carries out abnormal behaviors during sleep (for example, sleepwalking).

In a stage as important as childhood, it is very important that sleep is restful and rest a sufficient number of hours (from the 11-14 hours that a child between 1 year and 2 years old should sleep to the 9-12 hours that children between 6 and 12 years old should sleep; therefore , a developing child should never sleep less than 9 or 10 hours).

On the other hand, it is worth mentioning that sleep disorders in childhood could cause significant problems that affect the child’s quality of life (e.g., irritability, decreased concentration and attention, etc.), as well as as well as that of their close relatives, such as their parents and siblings (e.g., sleep disturbances).

Now that we have briefly seen what sleep disorders consist of, We are going to look at the most common sleep disorders in childhood, classifying them into two large categories: dyssomnias and parasomnias.

Dysomnias

In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-5 of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) the term dyssomnias does not appear; However, it did appear in the previous version (DSM-IV-TR). Here we will use them to divide sleep disorders in childhood into two large groups to facilitate their organization, thus making them easier to understand when studying them.

Within the category of dyssomnias we can find sleep disorders in childhood related to the difficulties that some children have when trying to fall asleep, maintain sleep, and also those cases in which there is excessive sleep.

1. Insomnia

Insomnia is one of the childhood sleep disorders that we can encounter, and it is characterized by a reduction in rest time and also in terms of sleep quality causing clinically relevant discomfort in the child who suffers from it.

The main causes of insomnia in childhood are usually inadequate sleeping habits, so that there are often problems at bedtime and/or there are quite frequent awakenings during the night; while another reason for childhood insomnia could be that the child was suffering from some situation of anxiety and fear, so that at bedtime he had difficulty falling asleep due to worries that are manifested through thoughts that could cause it. anxiety and restlessness.

2. Infant apnea or Ondine Syndrome

Another of the existing sleep disorders in childhood is infantile apnea, also known as Ondine Syndrome, which is characterized by a series of respiratory arrests that he suffers while sleeping causing snoring and also excessive drowsiness throughout the day.

Furthermore, these respiratory arrests could appear repeatedly throughout the night’s sleep, causing awakenings and unrefreshing sleep.

Parasomnias

We understand parasomnias to be all those sleep disorders in childhood that are characterized by the existence of any behavior during night rest or some unusual or unusual physiological and/or experiential phenomenon that are associated with sleep, since they usually appear in one of the eastern phases or also in the transitions between sleep and wakefulness.

Some of these parasomnias, such as night terrors and sleepwalking, appear in the DSM-5 classified within the category of “disorders of awakening from non-REM sleep”, which are not serious disorders, but they can cause some discomfort.

1. Nightmare disorder

Nightmare disorder, formerly known as distressing dream disorder, is another of the most common childhood sleep disorders. It is also the parasomnia that occurs most frequently in childhood and is characterized by the appearance during the night’s rest of dreams with unpleasant and even fearful content, causing the child to wake up.

Sometimes, The fear caused by these nightmares could cause the child to have difficulty going back to sleep so this could lead to insomnia.

Nightmare disorder is usually not serious, since it usually occurs over a period of time due to some stressful factor in the child’s life or for some other reason and tends to disappear when the phenomenon that triggered it has subsided. When nightmare disorder occurs, parents should try to calm their child by downplaying the content of the nightmares.

2. Night terrors

Another of the most common sleep disorders in childhood is night terrors, which are known as such due to the appearance during sleep of frequent episodes of waking up abruptly with sensations of terror on the part of the child, so that It is common that during these awakenings he begins to scream because of the panic he feels. Furthermore, during these episodes, Having experienced panic, there are a series of warning signs such as tachycardia, mydriasis, excessive sweating and/or tachypnea (rapid, shallow breathing).

It is worth mentioning that night terrors normally appear during the first third of the night, in phases 3 and 4 of sleep (in which slow or deep sleep occurs), and it is strange that they appear during the REM sleep phase, which is the phase in which nightmare episodes normally occur.

3. Sleepwalking

Sleepwalking is known for the existence of repeated episodes during night sleep in which the child gets out of bed and begins to walk around the house without waking up. Being in a dream state, during the sleepwalking episode the child walks with his gaze fixed and from time to time, so that he is not aware of the intention of other people who may be around him (e.g., his siblings or his parents) trying to communicate with him, being very difficult to wake him up.

Sleepwalking is a sleep disorder that could last several years without causing any alteration during wakefulness nor cause any other type of discomfort or any other psychopathology; However, it could occur along with other sleep-related problems such as enuresis, somniloquy or night fears.

4. Somniloquy

Somniloquy is a parsimony that is not classified as a specified disorder within the DSM-5 that should be known and is characterized by the existence of episodes of making sounds or speaking during sleep being related to stressful situations and family history.

The episodes that occur in cases of somniloquy normally last only a few seconds and occur sporadically and, although it could appear at any age, it is more common for them to occur during the preschool stage (between approximately 3 and 7 years of age).

5. Jactatio Capitis

Among sleep disorders in childhood we can also find Jactatio Capitis, being another parasomnia that is not classified as a specified disorder within the DSM-5 classification.

It is characterized by the presence of a series of rocking movements to try to fall asleep that occur automatically. This type of movement, more specifically, consists of the rhythmic swinging of the head, which may occasionally be accompanied by movements of the entire body.

Normally, the movements that occur in the episodes of those who suffer from this parasomnia tend to occur smoothly; However, in some cases it occurs more intensely and could cause injuries.

6. Nocturnal bruxism

Finally, among sleep disorders in childhood we can also find nocturnal bruxism, another parasomnia that is not specified in the DSM-5. It is characterized by the grinding of teeth, which consists of a behavior that is developed by the jaw muscles in a rhythmic manner thus producing friction on the teeth, so that if this occurs strongly, the teeth could wear out.

In the case of nocturnal bruxism, we have found that it could be due to family history, although it could also be caused by anxious situations and/or frustrating moments that the child has experienced.