A QUARTER OF ESTONIAN CHILDREN SUFFER FROM INSOMNIA
In a health behavior survey, 35 percent of women and 28 percent of men responded that they had experienced insomnia in the past 30 days.
If in the movie “Men Don’t Cry” otherwise healthy men were ready to lie about insomnia in order to get a sanatorium vacation, then years later it may be difficult to find those who don’t actually need such a burden.
In a health behavior survey conducted in 2010, 35 percent of women and 28 percent of men responded that they had experienced insomnia in the past 30 days.
Tuuliki Hion, a psychiatrist specializing in insomnia at the University of Tartu Hospital, confirms that chronic insomnia affects both the elderly, who often experience insomnia due to other illnesses, and teenagers and young people. According to Erve Sõõru, a pulmonologist at the North Estonia Regional Hospital (PERH), a quarter of children may suffer from sleep disorders.
“I am seriously worried about the future of the Estonian people,” says Sõõru, who is also the president of the Estonian Sleep Medicine Society. He is particularly concerned about the lifestyle of young people, which is causing many to develop sleep problems.
“Teenagers spend half the night online and get to sleep later and later. Of course, it is difficult to wake up then, and on the way to school, they buy an energy drink. Chewing tobacco is also used to ward off drowsiness,” describes Sõõru. When a child with such a pace of life gets home, he lies down to sleep for a few hours. “At 11–12 p.m., they become more capable of working – they do schoolwork, socialize until late at night, and the vicious circle starts all over again,” says Sõõru.
“If you do something that keeps your brain awake until late at night, sleep does not come immediately after finishing mental activity. The head is still working at high speed and the body needs time to recharge,» explains Hion.
