Temperature changes during sleep in children with sleep disordered breathing

The quality and quantity of sleep are very closely related to variations in body temperature: falling asleep generally occurs in the period when there is a decrease in internal temperature while spontaneous morning awakening is associated with an increase in body temperature. Variations in body temperature are associated with sleep in a causal manner, any practice that generates distal vasodilation, such as thermally by using a hot water bottle, or wearing socks or non-thermally by turning off lights, lying down, physical and/or cognitive relaxation, can promote more rapid sleep onset. Conversely, when distal skin temperatures are reduced , such has being in a cold draft, or having a cold bath, this promotes vigilance and wakefulness. Studies in adults have shown that sleep or alertness could be improved in a non-drug induced manner by simple thermal modifications without any side effects. Sleep, in terms of both quantity and quality, is of paramount importance for a child's neurological development, health and even survival. This raises the question of whether the relationship between body temperature and sleep is similar in children. Sleep disordered breathing describes a range of severities of breathing disruption which ranges in severity from simple or primary snoring at the mild end to obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) at the severe end. Primary snoring affects up to 35% of children while OSA occurs in 1-6% of children. OSA results in increased effort of breathing to overcome the partial obstruction of the upper airway and has been demonstrated to be associated with increased metabolic rate and energy expenditure during sleep. This study aims to provide proof-of-concept data that there is a difference in body temperature during sleep in children with more severe forms of OSA. Such data would open opportunities for investigation of easily-obtained temperature data for diagnosis of management alternatives in paediatric OSA. This study will analyse time synchronised temperature recordings made using a small ibutton during sleep to determine the effects of sleep state and stage, sleep disruption and SDB severity on temperature across the night. Students will have the opportunity to be involved in overnight clinical sleep studies, collecting and analysing the temperature data recorded and matching this to sleep state and sleep disordered breathing severity recorded during the sleep study.