Obese, asthmatic, anxious, or depressed children are more likely to experience excessive daytime sleepiness, or EDS. “Although EDS in children is commonly assumed by physicians and the public to be the result of sleep-disordered breathing or inadequate sleep, our data suggest that EDS in young children is more strongly associated with obesity and mood issues as it is in adults,” says Edward Bixler, professor of psychiatry at Penn State. EDS is the inability to stay awake during the day, while sleep-disordered breathing is a group of disorders that includes sleep apnea, characterized by pauses in breathing.
