Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

A quarter of children, most adolescents and almost half of adults do not sleep well

  • Even though we have normalized that you do not sleep well or that you do not sleep the necessary hours, it has important consequences, different according to age. Adults take minutes to sleep to reach everything, while children’s hours “do not depend on their needs but on the needs of adults.”
7 eta 9 ordu artean egin behar ditu lo heldu batek, baina Espainiako Estatuan 6,8 ordukoa da batez bestekoa. Argazkia: Freepik

06 March 2024 - 07:00
Last updated: 08:34

One in four children does not sleep quality and in the last decade they have lost an average of 24 minutes of sleep, as they received in Eldiario.es. The article often recalls that children’s schedules depend on the needs of adults, and stresses the importance of sleep in the first five years of our life: it serves to repair what “breaks down” in our body while we are awake, while we sleep we build an immune system against infections still unknown and the growth hormone develops.

It is also important that young people between 13 and 18 years of age sleep for at least 9 consecutive hours, since many of the hormonal, metabolic and psioneurological processes experienced by adolescents develop during sleep, but a large number of young people do not exceed seven hours of sleep, as already mentioned in this article.

Experts point to a key factor: mobile and electronic devices. Hooked up to the phone, sleep less hours, and worse, disdisposition to messages, warnings and stimuli. Light inhibits melatonin or sleep hormone (even screen light) and doctor Gonzalo Pin in this ARGIA article states that a teenager's biological clock is much more sensitive to light at night than in the morning, that is, if you are with technology it will cost you more to sleep, "and usually you are with technology." The doctor highlights recent research in which an adolescent receives an average of four messages on his cell phone at night.

When you get on your phone, you fall asleep for less hours and worse, unwillingness to messages, warnings and stimuli.

Adult recommendation 7-9 hours

In adulthood, sleep is essential for the body, both to ensure healthy brain function and to allow an adequate physical state. Paradoxically, we know that sleeping is important, but we take minutes to sleep to address daily tasks, concerns and leisure times. In particular, Eldiario says that an adult should sleep between 7 and 9 hours, but in Spain the average is 6.8 hours, and in the last fifty years we have lost between an hour and a half and two hours.

Data from the Spanish state are significant: almost half of adults lack quality sleep, sleep disorders have multiplied by four in a decade, some of them have chronic insomnia and 11% of the population consume tranquilizers or other sleeping drugs. Even the Spanish state is the territory of the world with the highest consumption of benzodiazepine.

At the cognitive, attention, mood, academic or work level, and in decision making, the fact of not sleeping enough or good enough influences. Poor sleep, experts say, also increases the chances of a heart attack, cancer, obesity, diabetes, or depression.

Sleep disorders have multiplied by four in a decade, some of them have chronic insomnia and 11% of the population consume tranquilizers or other sleeping drugs.

In a society used to lorazepam and benzodiazepines, it is advisable to go to the causes of insomnia: if we suffer from other diseases, what are our customs, relationships, difficulties and concerns, if we take the opportunity to rest throughout the day, if we eat well and exercise...


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