“We pit school schedules against nature.”

Gonzalo Pin knows the mechanism that makes us fall asleep, as if it were an accurate clock. This pediatrician, specialized in sleep disorders, has become an authority in the field as coordinator of the sleep and chronobiology group of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP). He is a member of the Clineva Sleep Unit team in Valencia. member of the Alliance for a Dream. Using chronobiology, he explains how, over millions of years, humans have learned to synchronize with their environment to be active or sleep based on changes in light or meal times. The discovery of electricity and the recent use and abuse of screens have disrupted this cycle and increased sleep problems.

He recently took part in the last day of the III cycle of mental health for children and youth of Asampe, Aragonese Mental Health Association, in which he explained that 25% to 40% of boys and girls have difficulty falling or maintaining adequate sleep. at some point in his childhood.

He is also the author three books, several chapters in various books and more than 200 articles published in national and international journals. His latest work entitled “Dream is life” It was published last year.

What are we doing wrong when we talk about insomnia and sleep disorders in children and adolescents?

We are a society, especially the Spanish one, with enormous time pressure, which is thought to occur when a person does not have two hours a day to dedicate to self-care. There are two groups with greater time pressure: children because of busy schoolwork and extracurricular activities, and women because they have joined the workforce but men have not entered into equal conditions at home. This 7/24, 7 days a week, 24/7 connected society is time poor, and when a society is time poor, it robs one of sleep. Sleep deficiency is a public health problem.

How much sleep are we losing?

Over 10 years, we lost 27 minutes of sleep per day. Such a rapid loss of time has never happened in the history of mankind. Our body is not used to this. We are diurnal mammals and change our sleep rhythm as our bodies grow, just like children.

What does rest give to children?

Sleep in childhood serves, among other things, the fundamental function of creating neural networks, building the body, growth hormone and the immune system. In children of the first years, more than 33% of energy is spent on brain formation. Lack of sleep can cause short-term problems with hyperactivity, attention deficit, impulsivity, bad behavior… Chronic lack of sleep increases the tendency to be overweight along with a poor eating schedule and increases the tendency to hypertension in adulthood. Poor sleep leaves its mark on the cognitive, behavioral and metabolic levels.

Is sleep different during adolescence?

From the age of 8 years, melatonin secretion and the onset of sleep are delayed, while at the same time the need for sleep and sleep pressure increase, increasing the need for sleep when we are awake. In adolescents, this increase in pressure occurs more slowly. While children tend to be early risers who tend to wake up early, teenagers are night owls who tend to go to bed late and wake up late. He needs nine hours of sleep, but if he eats dinner late, goes to bed late, and school starts at 8:30, school jet lag occurs, a chronic sleep deficit. In a study we carried out in the Valencian Community, 52% of teenagers went to school and slept less than seven hours. We contrast the school schedule with nature, with the needs of the teenager.

Could using screens at night be one of the reasons?

Light at night disturbs diurnal mammals like us. We are experiencing a sociological experiment. We don’t know in the medium to long term what the impact of using screens might be. In the short term, the quality of sleep decreases, so in the first classes students are silent, not because they are paying attention, but because they are sleeping. When the body sleeps less than it needs, it develops a protective mechanism to avoid falling asleep, which consists of constantly changing activities, it becomes more irritable, more primary, the ability to learn decreases because attention to a certain object decreases for a while. . When a person is learning something, a block arises that prevents him from being distracted by other things, but with a lack of sleep, this focusing is difficult. Everything that happens around him interferes with his concentration and affects his performance in school.

“These meal times are not that late and not particularly irregular. On busy school days, some teenagers come home to eat at 3:30 or 4:00 pm.”
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“When we talk about healthy lifestyle habits, we usually talk about nutrition and exercise, but we rarely mention two other important human habits—rest and affection. These are the four habits that provide us with quality of life.”
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What healthy lifestyle habits should we follow to avoid lack of rest?

Children sleep more than 8 hours, use technology less than 2 hours a day, and exercise more than 60 minutes. It is important that students are exposed to fresh air at certain times of the day to allow their body clocks to adapt. Feeding times are not that late and not particularly irregular. On busy school days, some teenagers come home to eat at 3:30 or 4:00 pm.

You also talk at your conferences about emotionality as a habit that we must take care of to ensure pleasant dreams. What does this mean?

When we talk about healthy lifestyle habits, we usually talk about nutrition and exercise, but we rarely mention two other important human habits: rest and affection. These are the four habits that provide us with quality of life. If I come home late from work, with a guilt complex for leaving the children, there are no moments of rest. There are no moments of affection and we need to restore that. In order to take care of my children, I have to take care of myself and fight for lack of time. If I am unwell, it is difficult for me to care.

And what can be done?

Turn off your screens at dinner, talk and comment on what Humanity has been doing around the fire for millions of years. All this helps open the door to your dream. We use technology to stay connected, we are together but not united, and this is not good for sleep, but for the development of children. It improves with knowledge and a little respect for our time and the time of others. If I eat well, get physical activity, and sleep when I need to, my quality of life will improve. We remember the dream only when we have a problem, but to avoid it, we must take care of it from childhood. We adults need to respect that.

Adults more often resort to sleeping pills…

Pills can be part of treatment, but not the first option. Before you can try meditation, yoga, etc. The drug can be taken temporarily. It is sad that Spain is one of the first consumers of benzodiazepines or anxiolytics.