At What Point Did Chickens Start Laying Eggs And The Possibility Of An Alternative Science That Do Not Exclude Holistic Thinking? The term sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) implies that breathing disorder occurs during sleep: if a person were not to sleep then one could postulate that one does not have disordered breathing. Let us suppose that there is a preexisting breathing disorder prior to sleep and it is during sleep that the symptoms of disordered breathing are clinically manifested. By expanding the parameters of disordered breathing, other areas of investigation should now be looked at. Sleep may not be the cause of disordered breathing rather a late arrival to the scene as the breakdown process of ones health may have started many years prior. However, if one continues to hold that sleep is the culprit of disordered breathing and only search for solutions within sleep then one could forever be treating the symptoms and not the cause. A limited view of the problems will not be able to solve the problems, if anything, it could create new problems. Present day treatments include: CPAP, surgeries, drugs, dental appliances,... A recent article in Sleep Review, Volume 7, Number 7, 26-31, "Responding to Pediatric CPAP Problems"; children are observed as being afflicted with the preliminary symptoms of disordered breathing and basically the same treatment modalities are being recommended for children. Do you know of anyone who has been weaned off CPAP because it cured the breathing disorder? Can you imagine what that could mean to the quality of life to a 10 year old child on CPAP? If one proposes solutions outside of sleep it may be received with doubt, skepticism, and subjected to criticism and even hostility. However, for the sake of ones health and fitness, a dialogue should begin. It is my opinion that the initial disordered breathing had nothing to do with sleep; started during childhood; progressed in severity to adulthood; and manifested most severely during sleep; and therefore, preventive and corrective measures should be started during early childhood development. Adults who are afflicted with disordered breathing problems should continue with their present treatment and treatment to include the parameters of correct breathing training, stress management, moderate [not mild] exercise program; and an awakening and acceptance of the importance of modifying the Standard American Diet (The "SAD" Diet) to include larger portions of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and smaller portions of animal products and processed foods. These proposals are not radical: time is running out and one must commit to a new [old] Way of Life. By definition, when one is in a box, one can see only things in the box. "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were when we created them." Albert Einstein. Which came first the chicken or the egg? This mystery has been with us for as long as I can remember. Has anyone ever concluded that the first chicken came from another chicken and only after many generations, somewhere after the 100th generation of egg laying chickens, all the chickens throughout the world started laying eggs instead of giving birth to live chicks? However, one may conclude the first egg came from another egg. Sometimes to see clearly one needs to step back and look with new eyes. It cannot be stated more clearly that chronic mouth breathing is a serious breathing disorder and its origin had nothing to do with sleep. Like the first chickens, we need to go to the beginning to see the truth. What can be more basic than to start with correct breathing? Nasal breathing is correct breathing! p.s. The editorial was written with a sense of urgency: many of us are not well and unknowingly raising unhealthy children who likely will end up with painful illnesses. "Seeing we see but we do not perceive; hearing we hear but we do not understand, because we have got a mind which has no understanding and no feeling." Isaiah 6:9,10 Steven K. Sue, D.D.S., M.S., Inc. Honolulu, HI USA Tel. (808) 949-8876