The prescription of sleeping pills and sedatives to young people has increased fivefold in the last ten years, figures from the National Board of Health and Welfare show. As many as 25 percent of children and young people are estimated to suffer from sleep problems at some point during their upbringing.
Gita Hedin, who is a doctor of medical science and has researched young people and sleep, says that sleeping pills may be needed in some cases – but that you need to be critical and think about whether it is really the case that so many more people need medicine and treatment, or whether you can introduce something else earlier, such as behavioral change or sleep-promoting activities.
– I would say that it is quite a big problem. Insufficient sleep is classified as a public health problem. Especially children and young people who are in a sensitive period from being children to developing and becoming young adults both physically and mentally, it affects them, says Gita Hedin.
Watch Gita Hedin explain what factors can contribute to children and young people sleeping poorly, in the player above.