It is estimated that 75% of our country's health expenditure is for lifestyle diseases that are preventable. Conditions such as obesity, insulin resistance, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, early cardiovascular inflammation, tooth decay, along with sleep and breathing disorders.
To make matters worse, our health care system doesn't pay for prevention...it's focused on treatment. But parents have an opportunity to prevent many of these diseases from becoming life-long struggles for their children.
These staggering statistics and the principles around parent intervention are at the driving core of Dr. Susan Maples' mission. In her book, Brave Parent, she defines the definitive strategy for how all adults can become Brave Parents and positively impact the health and lives of children.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP AND AIRWAY HEALTH IN CHILDREN
Many behavior issues, such as being overly tired, defiant, irritable, chronically ill, and even ADHD, are rooted in pediatric airway dysfunction issues. Breathing issues impact your child's ability to sleep well. And sleep, both the quality and quantity of it, are profoundly important to your child's health. A child that doesn't sleep or breathe well becomes an adult with chronic health issues.
In her book Dr. Maples points out that fragmented breathing progression can be sneaky-slow, making it almost unrecognizable for most parents. She outlines tips to help parents identify breathing and sleeping issues in children, as well as where to go for treatment and what questions to ask your pediatric airway dentist or pediatrician.
Dr. Maples understands that helping children grow into healthy, disease-free adults is a huge job. This is why her book covers everything from eating and drinking to sleeping and breathing and how each of us can work together to become the Brave Parents we need to be and to raise a generation of strong, healthy children in the future.
