英語聽力文摘 尷尬的鼾聲
鼾聲和認知能力
Snoring can be pretty disturbing to people who sleep in the company of snorers, as well as to thesnorer himself or herself, though she may not realize it. For instance, some snorers have a condition called obstructive sleep apnea. Their airways become obstructed various times while they’re sleeping, and each time this happens the snorerbriefly stops breathing.
What’s more, obstructive sleep apnea has been shown to affect the cognitive abilities and behavior of children with the condition. They demonstrate difficulties with language and attentiveness, and they score lower on overall tests of intelligence.
Until now it has not been known whether children who snore, but do not have obstructive sleepapnea, are at risk, too, for these cognitive and behavioral problems. However, recent research shows that many children without this particular condition, but who nonetheless snore, do test significantly lower than do non-snorers in these same areas of cognition and behavior. Which children who snore are at risk and which are not is not clear yet and will require further research.
In the meantime, if your child snores frequently and he or she seems to experience learning and/or behavioral problems, you might consult a sleep specialist to find out whether or not your child has obstructive sleep apnea. There are various causes of frequent snoring and obstructivesleep apnea, but the most common causes are enlarged tonsils and an enlarged adenoids. In these cases the removal of the tonsils or adenoids can be an effective treatment.
在鼾聲中，徹夜難眠，然而打鼾對于打鼾者自己也有始料未及的困擾。比如，有些人患有阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停綜合癥。睡覺時，他們的呼吸道時而受阻，而患者也暫時停止呼吸。
更糟糕的是，阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停綜合癥會影響患者的認知能力和兒童行為能力。據(jù)顯示，兒童語言溝通有障礙，注意力不易集中，整體智力測試得分更低。
至今我們尚不知打鼾的兒童(未患阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停綜合癥)是否也有認知和行為問題。但是，最新研究顯示，相比不打鼾的兒童而言，一些未患阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停綜合癥而打鼾的兒童在同領(lǐng)域認知和行為能力確實略遜一籌。而研究結(jié)果是否是普遍現(xiàn)象尚待進一步研究。
如果你的孩子經(jīng)常打鼾，同時成績不佳，有行為問題，最好咨詢睡眠專家診斷是否患有阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停綜合癥。造成經(jīng)常打鼾和阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停綜合癥的原因很多。而普遍因素是扁桃體和腺樣體腫大，扁桃體切除和 (或 )腺樣體刮除是治療的有效方法。
