Sleep training helps children with sleep disorders

30 percent of all children in Germany suffer from sleep disorders. Psychologists from the University of Würzburg developed a special sleep training for children.

28.03.2011

Children and adolescents increasingly suffer from sleep disorders. According to studies, especially the age groups of the five to sixteen year olds are affected. In addition to health problems, especially stress at school or at home is responsible for sleep problems in children.

Sleep disorders are no longer a grown-up problem for adults. According to the Würzburg psychologist Barbara Schwerdtle, around a quarter of all children and adolescents in Germany suffer from sleep problems. This has brought a number of studies, explains the expert. Psychological indicators are mainly falling asleep, staying asleep or having problems with early morning waking. In some cases, medical background issues are also responsible for the problems. For example, this applies when patients can not breathe properly.

30 percent of all children suffer from sleep disorders
Many children and young adults suffer at least temporarily from sleep disorders. According to scientific studies, about 30 percent of all 13- to 25-year-olds have problems falling asleep or staying asleep. Four to ten percent of those affected even suffer from a veritable insomnia. For five- to ten-year-olds, estimates vary between 20 and 43 percent. However, the problems of the children are often not taken seriously. Many parents suspect behind the complaints only pedagogical problems. According to the child psychologist, serious sleep disorders can subsequently lead to childhood depression and anxiety disorders.

Sleep training helps children with sleep disorders
At the University of Würzburg, the researchers Karoline Roeser and Barbara Schwerdtle have designed a sleep training program especially for children. Not only children participate in the training, but also the whole family. Many problems arise in the parents' home, therefore, the parent or guardian are also involved in the therapy. If there is a lot of conflict in the family, it can also have a negative effect on sleep, explains the psychologist. Partly the parents are also too inconsistent in their behavior. Says the mother: „Now you have to go to bed“ This can also be called with the children, „Now there are three or even five bedtime stories“. Because the request varies with many parents and often does not provide sufficient guidance. The behavior of the parents thus contributes in many cases to the fact that the children can not sleep properly or sleep through. Other children suffer from having to sleep alone in a dark room. Fears often play a big role in children, explains Schwerdtle. Many report from „Monsters, darkness and fear of being alone“. Of course, there are also fears that will disappear again by the age of the children. „But there are also fears that remain“. This can lead to a chronic sleep disorder, which manifests itself in older people. Scientists believe that 60 percent of childhood sleep problems persist and become chronic. This can lead to serious mental disorders. Many adults with depression had sleep disorders as a child, says the psychologist.

The psychologists Karoline Roeser and Barbara Schwerdtle offer help for such cases: A sleep training for children and adolescents. The training was conducted at the University of Tübingen under the direction of Dr. med. Angelika Schlarb and Prof. dr. Martin Hautzinger developed. Now it is carried out at the Department of Psychology I - Intervention Psychology in Würzburg. At the beginning of the sleep training is a detailed anamnesis conversation with the parents and children. The two child psychologists can describe the difficulties exactly. If there is a suspicion of a physical problem, the young patients are sent to the doctor or to the sleep laboratory. For everyone else, the training begins, each consisting of six sessions. „Our therapy is a combination of behavioral and hypnotherapy“, explains Roeser. First, the experts look at the participants' beds and examine the environment and rituals. „The children then get the homework to change what disturbs their sleep environment“, reports Schwerdtle. Children should tell their parents what they like and do not like about their bed. The consequence is often one „Family trip to the furniture store“, so Roeser.

Relaxation exercises and hypnotherapy
In addition to hypnotherapy, children learn relaxation exercises to be able to switch off from everyday stress. The participants learn in the hypno-therapeutic area to find an inner safe place where they can deposit all their worries and problems. „This helps, endless brooding before falling asleep“ to minimize. In addition, fantasy and dream trips are undertaken, the „with a specific therapeutic message“ are connected. „Children become more independent and independent during the training. They learn to strengthen their own self“, says Barbara Schwerdtle. „And who trusts in his own powers and abilities, no longer needs the mom or dad at his side when it comes to falling asleep.“

First successes of the training
Already 30 children could already be helped with this training. „At the latest three months after the end of the training, the children no longer experience any sleep disturbances“, says Schwerdtle. In adolescents it would not be so fast, but even with them, usually after three months alleviate the problem. Parents of affected children should contact child psychologists or a pediatric child care specialist. Those who work on the problems of falling asleep at an early stage reduce the risk of children developing chronic sleep disorders or secondary illnesses such as depression later in life. (Sb)

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Image: Gabi Schoenemann