Posted June 16, 2003

Berlin (Reuters)—Children who snore perform worse at school, according to a new study by German scientists. 

"Our study clearly showed that snoring has a detrimental effect on children's performance in school," Christian Poets, head of a joint study by the University of Tuebingen and the Hanover Medical School, said on Friday. 

The study showed that children who snored continually were three to four times as likely as non-snorers to get poor marks in math, spelling and elementary sciences. 

It showed that snorers had more variable pulse rates, and Poets suggested this led snorers to wake up more tired than other children, making it harder to concentrate. 

"We believe the interruptions to sleep caused by snoring affect school performance, not an occasional reduction in the (blood) oxygen content snoring can produce," Poets told Reuters.

The study matched the findings of scientists at the University of Louisville in the United States, who presented research last month showing that children who snore are more likely to have problems with learning and behavior than those who do not.

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