– I need a lot of sleep. I get tired if I have too little sleep, says Malin Jenssen. She and the gang news meets are graduating students in the sports program at Mandal secondary school. They all believe that enough sleep is important for learning, concentration and good health. In the Youth Data survey in Agder from 2022, when young people were asked about sleep for the first time, it also emerged that there is a clear connection between sleep and mental health. There is a big difference between those who slept six hours or less and those who slept the recommended eight hours. Special adviser in KoRu’s South, Ingvild Vardheim, believes the connections are so clear that they cannot be ignored. – This must be made into a bigger topic. Either in teaching, or in society, she says. Ingvild Vardheim is a special adviser in KoRus Sør and has the main responsibility for the Ungdata surveys. Hu says that for many, the 24-hour day is too short. There is so much to happen. Photo: Per Stian Johnsen Vardheim’s colleague in KoRus Sør, specialist psychologist Anne-Kristin Imenes, believes teaching about sleep must be included in the curriculum. – We cannot teach young people about mental health without teaching them about sleep and how it is connected. Sleep is medicine, she says. KoRus Sør has been involved in the work linked to the Youth data survey in Agder. Malin Jenssen (left) notices that she can be affected if she gets too little sleep. She thinks it might be good to get the connection between sleep and psyche into teaching. Oda Orrestad Breland thinks it makes sense that sleep and mental health are connected. One hour more causes less pain In Agder, 17,000 students between the ages of 13 and 19 were asked about sleep in the survey that KoRus Sør, the University of Agder and Agder County Municipality collaborated on. The results show that 44 per cent of the girls who slept 6 hours or less have a high level of mental health problems, while this applies to 21 per cent of the boys. The proportion is significantly lower among both girls and boys who slept an hour longer. And among those who slept 9 hours, only a minority have a high level of mental health problems. If one sleeps too much, 10 hours or more, the proportion with a high level of mental health problems starts to increase again. This applies especially to girls. The survey also revealed that the number of hours of sleep is linked to the family’s finances. There are fewer people with a high social economic status (SØS) who slept 6 hours or less compared to those with a lower income. Here, too, this affects the girls more than the boys. The young people’s answers to the vast majority of questions related to mental health, school stress, quality of life, self-image, well-being and sense of mastery seem to have a strong correlation with the number of hours they slept last night. Morten Kastet at the sports line in Mandal says he can notice that his stress level rises if he gets little sleep at night and that it affects his mental health. Photo: Kjetil Samuelsen / news Sleep-hostile society Even in KoRus Sør, they say they think the whole society is rigged as sleep-hostile. She mentions that training is often done too late in the evenings, which leads to young people spending several hours at night scrolling on their mobile phones. Sleep is therefore given a lower priority. School then starts early, and many have not had enough sleep. Imenes thinks this can be directly harmful to health. She believes that one must talk about structural measures to improve young people’s sleeping habits. Not just about habits for good sleep hygiene. – Young people do not get the necessary sleep. If they have to sacrifice something, it will be that. According to the Ungdata research, one of the changes that occurs in the body during puberty is a delayed circadian rhythm. It makes young people feel awake in the evening and tired in the morning. Anne-Kristin Imenes is a senior adviser and psychological specialist at KoRus. Photo: Privat Working with it Linn Gyland is an adviser for public health in Agder county municipality. She says they are working on how speech from Ungdata can be used in school. One of the themes they saw highly was sleep and mental health. – When you see an increase in young people reporting mental health problems, you wonder what to do. When you now gain knowledge that sleep is an important area of effort, you have to work hard to get it out, says Gyland. Everything happens in dialogue with the young people in the county. Inger Johanne Danielsen is responsible for analysis of the Youth data survey for the county council. She says they are working on a pilot on the topic. – We must have a follow-up of these talks with the student council at secondary schools. It will be exciting to see what kind of proposals for measures they come up with. Imenes says that sleep education has already been tried in some places. Among other things in Vestfold and Telemark, and Viken. – Much of the sleep education is available online. We hope it inspires and spreads to more people, says specialist psychologist Imenes.
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