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Recent studies have concluded that adolescents that have a parent or parents that suffer from chronic insomnia are at a great risk for insomnia, suicidal behavior, and using sleep-inducing drugs.  If parents, teachers, or other authority figures area aware of these children who are at risk, interventions and preventative measures can be taken.

“If there is a family history of insomnia, we probably need to be looking at treating the whole family entity, parents as well, to make an impact on the children,” said Donna Arand, spokeswoman for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and clinical director of Kettering Sleep Disorders Center in Dayton, Ohio.  “We take a family history, but when we’re treating, our focus is usually on the patient we have in front of us and work at that level, ” added Arand.  Very few research studies have focused on the children of those with insomnia.

Insomnia referes to a variety of sleep disorders that include: trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up too early.  This disorder does seem to have a hereditary connection and is a very prevalent disorder.  Thirty percent of adults exhibit symptoms of insomnia and less than ten percent actually have chronic insomnia.

The study conducted included 450 boys and 348 girls around age 14.  This group included children of insomniac and non-insomniac parents.  They completed a sleep and health questionnaire.  The study discovered that children born to insomniac parents were about 3 times more likely to exhibit symptoms of insomnia, more than twice as likely to have fatigue, and more than five times more likely to use hypnotic drugs.   Nearly 17% of children born to insomniacs reported suicidal thoughts or behaviors, about 10% reported plans of suicide, about 10% reported suicide attempts over the past year.  This compares to 5.3%, 1.5%, and about 1.7% of those who had parents that did not have insomnia.