Speaker 1: It’s that time of the week. Time to answer your common health questions. Joining me right now, News Channel 5’s medical expert, Dr. David Soria. He is the chief of Emergency Medicine at Wellington Regional Medical Center. Always thank you for coming in, doctor, …
Dr. David Soria: You’re welcome.
Speaker 1: … making a house call, if you well. All right. Here’s the first question of the day. Does Daycare, or preschool, have an effect on children developing allergies, or asthma?
Dr. David Soria: Yeah, you know, it actually does. There is such a thing called a Hygiene Hypothesis. What they looked at was, kids that were born to families with multiple siblings, what they found was that those kids were significantly less likely to develop allergies, or asthma. As a matter of fact, and this applies to Daycare, as well. As a matter of fact, it was about 50% less likelihood, chance, or develop asthma by the age five. Now, also, kids in Daycare, or multiple siblings, through the course of ages three through 11, they actually had substantially less sick days and common colds, which averaged about five to seven in a normal age population.
However, by about age 13, or so, the kids normalize, so kids not in Daycare versus children that were in Daycare, normalize as far as the prevalence of asthma and/or allergy. So, if a child is in Daycare don’t worry he’s going to be fine by the time he’s a teenager.
Speaker 1: It will normal itself out, if you will.
Dr. David Soria: You bet. You bet.
Speaker 1: Second question, and we’ve talked about this before. What is the difference between sleep apnea and insomnia?
Dr. David Soria: These are two sleep disorders, but other than that they’re dramatically different. That’s the only commonality that they have. Insomnia refers, it’s a general definition, that it refers to somebody that’s having difficulty sleeping, going to sleep, or staying asleep. It comes in acute or chronic forms and it can be related to a number of different things that can cause it.
Sleep apnea is substantially different. What that is, is a physical disorder. Soft tissue in the throat tends to collapse on the airway. You can’t breathe. You wake up multiple times throughout the night. You don’t remember it, but then during the day you have excessive sleepiness, memory loss. It can contribute to diabetes, hypertension. It’s a bad thing. If you have daytime sleepiness, or you find yourself wanting to take a nap all day long, or falling asleep during mundane activities, make sure you see your doctor and get yourself checked out.
Speaker 1: There are sleep centers here where you can get doctors that specialize in that, as well. All right. If you want to get a question in for the doctor next time, go to our website, wptv.com. Click on the health length, just scroll down to the right-hand side and you’ll see that form and you can write your question. As always, doctor, thank you for joining us.
Dr. David Soria: You’re welcome.
Speaker 1: We’ll be right back after this.
