Why are doctors moving to Texas?

How to solve a malpractice crisis in just a few years.

Overmedicating Children

Some reporting on Fox News about the study in Pediatrics on overmedicating children in UK and USA. As always not a word about the possible link between those prescribed Ritalin and underlying sleep disorders.

D.C. trip

I’ll be in D.C. Metro area May 2 to 7 promoting my book Sound Sleep, Sound Mind. Media events scheduled so far include booksignings in Frederick and Bethesda, Maryland, and a webinar I’ll conduct through the non-profit, Witness Justice, a support group and educational resource for trauma survivors. More details to follow.

Frontline’s Program on Overmedicated Children

What’s remarkable and disappointing about this program is the number of kids with obvious sleep disorders. Many of the kids highlighted with bipolar disorder were clear mouth breathers. Several had thick necks or retrognathia (recessed chins). And, of course several of the kids had sleep complaints. You would think that such findings would spark some interest in pursuing overnight sleep studies. For future research, it certainly would be fascinating to see how many of these bipolar patients can be turned into successful bilevel patients.

Sleep Patterns Affect Obesity in Young Children

This new study is intriguing, but more analysis is needed. First, we would suspect that sleep-disordered breathing is present in some of these kids, which could produce fragmented sleep, awakenings, and ultimately short sleep duration, a fairly common presentation for SDB in children. Second, the connection to TV viewing also suggests something about family dynamics. If parents let their kids watch too much television, it may say a lot about the parents’ own energy levels and the need to use “surrogates” to entertain the kids, while the parents try to recover their own energy or manage other tasks. In short, the more the parents let their kids watch TV, then the more the parents may suffer from their own sleep problems, which they pass on genetically to the kids. And these sleep disorders may be an obesity trigger or contributor.

In sum, I doubt it’s as simplistic as just the number of hours these children sleep. Rather, the number of hours they sleep is a marker of another process that also influences weight.