The growing body of evidence suggests that a significant number of children with inattention, hyperactivity or sleepiness during the day – as well as sleep-breathing problems at night -- may benefit from having a tonsillectomy, an operation that was once performed on more than a million children a year but has become much less common in recent decades. (Medical News)
Interruptions in breathing during sleep can cause the brain to "wake up" to some extent, even if the sleeping person is not aware of it. These repeated interruptions disturb the sleep patterns that are essential to a good night's sleep, and are thought to be the reason why daytime behavior might be affected by poor breathing during the night. (Medical News)
Children with sleep disordered breathing who undergo adenotonsillectomy (surgical removal of the tonsils and adenoids) may start sleeping better and may also show improvements in behavior. (National Institutes of Health, NIH)
Often, the problem stems from enlarged tonsils and adenoids, masses of tissue that help catch incoming germs; the tonsils are located in the back of the throat, while the adenoids are located behind the nose. (NIH)
