Sleep difficulties have become a major public health problem in Norway. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health points to steadily increasing numbers in both the young and adult population over the past ten years. For influencer and author Linnéa Myhre, it already started in secondary school. She felt a restlessness in her body and had psychological problems. That’s when the sleep problems started. – Sleep problems often accompany mental disorders, and many in my family have struggled with this. I got early access to sleeping pills, she says. Sleepless nights, pill addiction and a constant train of thought have characterized Myhre’s life for many years. The struggle to regain sleep through both therapy, health examinations and all kinds of advice has resulted in a separate docuseries on VGTV, “Søvnløs”. On “Lindmo” this week, she talks candidly about the series, and the way to a normal sleep rhythm. – The last year has been hard work. You have to negotiate a bit and change your habits to get through it, she says, and shows great gratitude for her boyfriend, Emil Gukild, who has been an important supporter. Woke up by a howl The fear of not being able to sleep came long before it was night and bedtime for Myhre. – I dreaded going to bed all day. The fear built up as the evening approached. I thought: “What if I can’t sleep?”. It was a fear that was there all the time, she says. Although she became more tired during the evening, she lay awake with all her thoughts as soon as her boyfriend fell asleep next to her. The boyfriend tells of an incident that really made him realize how bad the sleeping problem was for his partner. Linnéa Myhre had managed to get through her sleep problems without the support of her roommate, Emil Gukild. Photo: Julia Marie Naglestad / news – It was night and I was sleeping. Suddenly I woke up to a howl from the living room. Linnea was not in bed, and I quickly realized that it was she who was howling. I ran out into the living room and see her lying on the floor crying. It was then that I realized how serious this was, says Gukild. Dependent on artificial sleep When Myhre met her boyfriend a few years ago, she had been taking sleeping pills for 2.5 years. In Periods, she was dependent on the pills to sleep at all. – The pills I was on shouldn’t really be used for more than three weeks straight. But my body turned to them, and I took it more and more. The sleeping pills sent her into a vicious circle, where she sometimes did not know the difference between night and night. She wanted to learn to sleep on her own. The insomnia made Linnéa Myhre furious with her boyfriend. She wanted to use violence and push him out of bed. Photo: Oslo Company/VGTV – I have thought that sleep is sleep, but the medicine is artificial sleep. You don’t get the cycles, such as dream sleep and deep sleep. And it is necessary to restore the brain. The pills provide no valuable sleep. When I woke up I never felt rested, just tired with a bad memory. Myhre reached a point where she sought help. After much trial and error, she has managed to get quality sleep back. The experience she is left with is made up of many things. – The most important thing is to become aware of things. I have had a good psychologist who has helped me and given me advice ranging from eating a kiwi in the evening to taking a cold shower in the morning. I have also become more aware of my caffeine intake and screen use in bed. Insomnia in Norway The incidence of insomnia among adults seems to have increased. A Norwegian survey shows an increase from 11.9 per cent to 15.5 per cent in the period 2001 to 2011. The increase was particularly evident in women aged between 45 and 60. The students’ health and well-being survey (SHoT) shows that 38 per cent of all women satisfied the diagnostic criteria for insomnia, while the corresponding proportion for men was 26 per cent. The incidence of insomnia among students was measured at 43 per cent in 2021 for both sexes combined, but decreased again to 34 per cent in 2022. Studies show that young people sleep barely 6.5 hours per night on weekdays. 84 percent of young people get less sleep than recommended. One in four Norwegian young people meets the formal criteria for an insomnia diagnosis. The results from Norwegian studies are in accordance with international findings which show that the length of sleep in 10-15-year-olds has been reduced by 23-44 minutes in the period 1985 to 2004, with a later bedtime as the main reason. Source: FHI She says that there are many simple steps you can take, but it requires a real effort. – The problem is that you don’t know about them. The psychologist says that people need more knowledge about this, she says. Little room to calm down In a society where we are satisfied with entertainment at all hours of the day, it is not easy to lie down to sleep. Psychological specialist and sleep expert, Ane Wilhelmsen-Langeland, believes we have too high expectations for our health in general, including sleep. Sleep expert, Ane Wilhelmsen-Langeland. Photo: Tore Langeland – We want to perform and get everything done, and when we don’t we get frustrated – we also sleep even worse, she says. She believes that both young people and adults have little room to actually manage to calm down, when something is constantly happening around us. – It is to a much greater extent up to each individual to create a good sleep routine now than before, and it is a big challenge for many. We have things that we can follow continuously, both online and on social media – in addition, we stay more awake in the evening with indoor lights, she explains. Shifts the circadian rhythm These factors have led to many, both young people and adults, struggling with a delayed circadian rhythm. – Because of all the stimuli we have around us all the time, we wait too long to go to bed, and then we get too little sleep when we have to get up early. Young people have messed up their circadian rhythm in the first place, so they get a little extra, she explains. – More and more people find it difficult to put down the mobile phone without wearing something to the ear. We can’t stand being alone with our own thoughts very well, it seems. It is cause for concern, she believes. The sleep expert has a clear call for those who are trying to control their sleep rhythm and who are trying to make up for lost sleep. The first step in combating insomnia was to get rid of the sleeping pills. It was a hard transition for Linnéa Myhre. Photo: Oslo Company/VGTV – It is typical that when you sleep badly one night, you plan to go to bed early the next day. But what is the sleep expert’s best advice to avoid sleep problems? The answer sounds like a simple matter. – Neither medicine, food nor drink works better than having a stable circadian rhythm. The key is to stay active and alert throughout the day. Focus on being awake, rather than regulating your day’s activities based on how you slept at night. – It is also important to get enough daylight and calm down in the evening by putting the mobile away – at least in the bedroom. If everyone did it for four weeks straight, I think many sleep problems would disappear, she believes. Watch this week’s Lindmo on Friday at 9.50pm and whenever you want on news TV.
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