How the two need to get along…
Whether you’re a teacher, a parent, a fourth-grader, or a college student, back-to-school can cause havoc with your sleep schedule. Conversely, it might just give you the post-summer structure you need!
Getting a good night’s sleep is important for everyone. But this time of year seems to be particularly stressful for both students and parents. A good night’s sleep seems to be what gets put on the bottom of the list of “to-dos”.
Younger children and teens are particularly at risk for non-diagnosed sleep disorders. As a parent, you need to know that all sleep is not always good sleep.
If you have noticed that your child exhibits any of the below characteristics, Colorado Healthy Sleep may be able to help:
- Snoring or hold their breath while sleeping
- Waking after a night’s sleep but still feeling groggy and tired
- Having attention and focus issues at home/school
- Exhibiting aggression or behavioral issues
- Suffering from allergies
- Overweight
- Depressed
- Anxious
- Been diagnosed with ADD and/or ADHA
As an adult, you should also know that breathing obstruction from a restricted airway can attribute to sleep disruption which may also lead to some major health concerns for you like diabetes, dementia, ongoing headaches, and hypertension.
There is a reason you are hearing and seeing more and more advertising about products that aid with sleep. Science has been researching causes and effects for years and is now discovering that it’s all about BREATHING.
Dr. Jackie Schafer of Colorado Healthy Sleep tells us, “When a body is at rest and breathing clearly and normally, all the systems in the body can work as they should, at maximum capacity. But when the airway is blocked to any extent, the brain goes into a “fight or flight” campaign and starts shutting down systems it deems not as necessary as others. In children, it could manifest as something like bedwetting. In adults, it could lead to sleep apnea.
“It’s not just snoring or restless sleep patterns we are talking about here. There are so many health issues breathing can affect. Think about this: when a woman gives birth she is told to ‘breathe’ to help manage and mitigate the pain caused before and during delivery. So, it makes sense breathing correctly 24/7/365 could help – or NOT breathing effectively could be a CAUSE – of diseases associated with chronic pain, such as fibromyalgia. If the brain is in nightly fight or flight mode year after year and is choosing systems to shut down for 7-8 hours every single night, damage can occur to organs that control, for example, insulin, leading to diabetes.”
She goes on to further explain that the cause of a blocked airway might be as simple as an underdeveloped. The VIVOS retainer-like appliance could offer much relief, or even eliminate the problem, without the use of the much-dreaded CPAP machine.
“A CPAP is forever. The VIVOS system often eliminates the structural issues that cause obstructive breathing by repositioning the jaw and/or tongue when in a resting position. The VIVOS mouth appliance gives you a slight but consistent pressure that expands your palate in your mouth. This can help reconstruct the airway, making it less crowded and ultimately easier to breathe. And it does this quickly, depending on the patient’s compliance to the treatment program… usually within 12 to 18 months.”
It’s also easy to find out if you or your family’s sleep or breathing disorder can be helped by using this method. A simple, safe, non-painful scan can be done right in the Colorado Healthy Sleep office. There’s really no reason that you wouldn’t find out if you, your child, or your significant other might be helped by this system.
If you’ve been told you snore, hold your breath, or toss and turn all night, call and find out more. If your child has been prescribed drugs for ADD or ADHA, call and find out more. If your sleep partner is exhausted or has headaches upon waking in the morning, have them call. Or go to The Colorado Healthy Sleep website and take the self-assessment: https://coloradohealthysleep.com/self-assessment
“For college students, this could literally be a life-saver. Most are not going to take a CPAP to their dorm room, and they certainly will not put the time and effort into keeping that machine clean and sanitary. But they might just wear a discrete mouth retainer at night while studying or sleeping,” said Dr. Schafer.
“My training was originally in dentistry. The VIVOS appliance looks like a dental retainer, and you wear it at night, like a dental retainer. I can tell you that it works…I’m a VIVOS patient myself!”