A Child's Web Of Sleep

The average person associates sleep problems with things like stress and anxiety, such that they do not immediately believe some groups can have trouble sleeping. However, it isn't merely the pressures of work, society, and relationships that can take a toll on a person's ability to get good sleep quality and quantity. Other things can play a role, such as mood or behavioral problems, food intake in the immediate hours preceding sleep, and a whole milieu of little things. Recent studies show that children are just as likely to have problems getting to sleep as adults are, though the reasons are not quite the same. What's worse is that this lack of sleep may bring about a problem more serious than being sleepy in class: obesity.

Recent studies have shown that children below the age of six can experience difficulty in getting to sleep and staying asleep. The study was prompted by some statistics that show children are getting less sleep, with the aim of finding out why this was happening. The results showed that children who watched certain types of TV shows, particularly police dramas and news broadcasts, had difficulty getting to sleep at night. The study found that the longer the child spent watching shows of that nature, along with other violent or disturbing programs, the longer it took for them to get to sleep. In some cases, the data was also correlated with the child experiencing breaks in sleep. The more they watched, the more frequently they woke up in the middle of the night.

Background TV exposure also seemed to play a role. According to the research, sleep problems can also appear if the child is not directly watching TV. The types of programs remained the same, but the nature of exposure was changed. Background TV exposure, such as hearing bits and pieces of a broadcast but not being in front of the TV itself, caused the same sleep problems that directly watching programs did. However, the research also revealed that the risks were lower than with direct viewing. Not by much, but they were noticeably lower. However, a lack of sleep caused by this can cause a child to eventually become overweight and obese as part of the side effects, according to another study.


The study recorded the Body Mass Index (BMI) and the sleep patterns of children in both the third and sixth grade. The results were that, as the children obtained less sleep for a variety of reasons, their BMI also went up, with some skirting the risk of obesity as early as the fifth grade. Factors such as genetics, environment, medical history, and sex, race, and education were eliminated to ensure that the results were as accurate as possible. The results showed that BMI did experience an increase as the hours of sleep decreased, though there could have been some variables that were not taken into account while the study was being planned. These factors include things such as personality and financial status, along with the inevitable lack of physical activity due to the lack of sleep.

A Rare Case of Male Breast Cancer

At 41, Brian Place found a lump near his left nipple and dismissed it as a sort of injury from the rough games he had been involved with for most of his life. He thought that the lump was probably a result of a collision with another rugby player. Though his doctor didn't think much of the lump either, nevertheless, he advised Place to get a mammogram test. When the ultrasound of the breast and a biopsy came out, the diagnosis shocked Place and his colleagues from the Royal Air Force in Britain where he works as a Communications Technician: breast cancer. Staff at his local breast clinic even assumed that Place was accompanying a female patient during his check up. The confusion is understandable. Only about less than 1% of breast cancers diagnosed occur in men. The rarity of breast cancer in men leaves so much room for research regarding the condition. According to Dr. Larissa Korde, staff clinician at the National Cancer Institute's clinical genetics branch, “In women, we have studies based on hundreds of thousands of patients.” However, there are no studies of that scale in men. “Though much can be extrapolated from research in women,” said Korde, “ it's a little bit harder to make recommendations for men based on evidence.” One of the surest risk factors to consider is family medical history, that is, for both men and women. At the time of Place's diagnosis, two female relatives of his had died of breast cancer and a third of ovarian cancer. However, several genes may contribute to breast cancer, such as mutations which are known to increase the possibilities of both breast and ovarian cancers. Although most men might never even meet a man with breast cancer, those who have several relatives diagnosed with breast cancer should be wary for signs of their own breast tumors. Based on studies, certain populations with an unusually high proportion of people carrying BRCA2 mutations may have a higher incidence rate of breast cancer in men, such as in Sweden, Hungary, Iceland, and among Ashkenazi Jews. There are similarities in the survival rates for men and women as they adjust in the stage of the disease at diagnosis. But since men do not undergo a regular screening like women do, they are more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage. The lumps may not always be detected by medical scanning equipment. Medical treatment usually includes surgery, to be followed by some combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. With men, an additional hormone treatment is necessary because almost all men with breast cancer have tumors characterized as hormone-receptor-positive. After two years of medical treatment and therapy, Place is now doing well. Two years after his diagnosis, Place is well enough to play contact sports. The mastectomy was successful, and Place has decided to discontinue his hormone treatment due to its side effects like hot flashes which he found to be very unpleasant. Brian Place is now an active participant in online discussions and support group communities for cancer patients. He tries to answer questions regarding male breast-cancer conditions. Place also gives talks to people who contact him through the U.K. nonprofit Breast Cancer Care. Although there are women who are not yet accustomed to men with breast cancer condition, time and awareness can help address the issue.