The number of children being prescribed drugs to help them sleep has almost tripled in the past seven years, amid concerns that medication is being overused because of a lack of support for families.
An analysis of NHS data by The Pharmaceutical Journal found that more than 60,000 children had been prescribed the hormone melatonin in March 2022. This compares with 20,881 patients under the age of 18 in April 2015, an increase of 168 per cent.
Melatonin is a hormone that occurs naturally in the body and plays an important role in the body’s sleep cycle. However, it has increasingly been prescribed by doctors in pill form as a treatment for children with sleep problems — particularly those with other conditions such as ADHD.
In recent years new products have come on the market with a short-term course of melatonin recommended for sleep problems in children but only under specialist supervision. However, the rise in prescriptions has led to concern that it may be being overused — and for longer periods.
While it has fewer side-effects than many other drugs taken to aid sleep, it can cause sleepiness in the daytime, headaches, stomach aches and nausea. There are also concerns that there have been few studies of any long-term effects melatonin may have on children.
Josephine Arendt, emeritus professor of endocrinology at the University of Surrey, said that she was worried by the trend of increased prescription. “[Melatonin] has profound effects on reproductive function in animals that depend on day length to time their seasonal physiology,” she said. “It takes a long time to find out if it has effects on human development. Small studies in children suggest it is safe. But more needs to be done.”
Vicki Beevers, chief executive of The Sleep Charity, told the journal that the rising number of patients on melatonin was “disappointing”. She said: “The first line of intervention should always be behavioural . . . but, unfortunately, many families can’t access this; it’s an absolute postcode lottery.”
Beevers added that sleep issues were on the rise across all age groups with the pandemic playing a significant part. “People were having more screen time, reduced exercise opportunities, a loss of routine and there was increased anxiety,” she said.
Stuart Peirson, professor of circadian neuroscience at Oxford University, said that because melatonin was safer than other sedative or hypnotic drugs, doctors may be being tempted to use it “in place of behavioural interventions, which are likely to be more effective and have fewer side-effects”.
“Whilst melatonin is regarded as being quite safe, it is actually a hormone. As such, long-term use of a hormone to treat sleep, where the effects are limited, is probably not a good trend.”
However, Alastair Sutcliffe, professor of general paediatrics at UCL, who was part of the team behind a trial that found melatonin was safe and helpful in treating severe sleep problems in children, said the rise in prescriptions could be associated with greater awareness of its usefulness. “There’s been a great deal of slowness in the profession [from] GPs and some paediatricians, despite the trial showing some benefit — and other trials subsequently — to using it,” he said. “My guess is that need is now being addressed.”
He said that because melatonin was a substance naturally produced by the body, it was less likely to have adverse effects than hypnotic sleeping pills.
Alastair Paterson, a specialist clinical pharmacist, described the rise in prescribing as “shocking” but said that it was a “trend” he had noticed “anecdotally in practice for a long time”.
“When we think about melatonin prescribing, young people are potentially the least relevant people to have it, unless there’s another reason, because they should be secreting loads and loads of melatonin.”
Behind the story
This rise in melatonin being prescribed for under-18s will in part reflect growing recognition among doctors that the drug can be useful in children.
It tends to be used in children with conditions such as autism, ADHD or learning difficulties that come with severe sleep challenges. In the past many families in that situation have turned to under-the-counter sources of the hormone — this will in part be formalising the status quo.
But there will be concern that there is a reliance on drugs because of a lack of other support for families with their children’s sleep problems.
Parents with young children would traditionally turn to their health visitor — those services are stretched thin. Specialist hospital services on sleep are few and far between, and waits for children’s mental health services are long.
Alastair Sutcliffe, professor of general paediatrics at UCL, says modern lifestyles could also play a role. “One of the characteristic things that seems to be harmful to sleeping is [blue] light that comes out of things like screens,” he said.
Children tend to have mobile phones from a quite young age, he said.
He added that school patterns could leave teenagers without enough sleep during the week, despite recent studies suggesting they are at a stage of brain development that needs more sleep than either childhood or adolescence.
Evidence on the impact of the pandemic is mixed. Some studies found that later morning starts in lockdown improved sleep duration. But sleep problems often correlate with mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression. And numerous studies have reported a rise in those matters.
What is melatonin?
Melatonin is a hormone that occurs naturally in the body, made by the pineal gland in the brain. It plays a role in the body’s circadian rhythms.
How do you get it?
It is only available as a drug on prescription in the UK, as either tablets or liquid. Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) say it can be used for both adults and children, although should generally be short-term for children and initiated by specialists.
How does it work?
According to the NHS, melatonin acts on receptors in the body to encourage sleep. Taking it as a medicine adds to the body’s natural supply of the hormone, which can help patients get to sleep and improve their sleep quality.
Is it safe?
In part because it already occurs naturally in the body, it has fewer side-effects than many other drugs taken to aid sleep. But common side-effects include feeling sleepy in the daytime, headaches, stomach aches and nausea. Some users report strange dreams or night sweats.
I’m taking like 4 different things to help me sleep, and I’m still laying here awake 😫
[deleted]
I guess growing up in a country where your entire future depends on the ability to inherit a house is quite stressful.
Further benefits of a Tory government. When will the populace learn you can not trust Tory’s? They have destroyed everything for their own profit. These people are treacherous evil
Part of the Tory plan for the future of healthcare…
1. Invest in pharmaceutical companies and private healthcare providers
2. Destroy public services
3. Make life so shit for the working class that they need drugs to function
4. Scrap NHS and reap the financial rewards of your immortality
Pfft, just melatonin? I thought this was going to be about serious sleep drugs.
Melatonin’s so soft, it makes valerian root look like a hardcore narcotic.
ETA: much of the world over, melatonin is a safe and freely available supplement. Trust the UK to make it excessively difficult to access.
its almost like living in a house with parents that are probably constantly worried and stressed about the cost of living. will have impact.
My 8 yr old nephew outright said to his mum.
“it’s ok if we cant put lights up this year, i know it costs money”.. An 8 yr old should not even be thinking about how much the lights cost, But he sees other struggling families at school and reflects them back to his own life.
We have had 2 yrs of scaremongering with covid. Years to come of “cost of living” i mean cooperate greed crisis.
I sit at home uncomfortable because its cold, if i turn the heating on, im comfortable physically, but VERY uncomfortable mentally because i know how much its costing.. My daughter is picking up on the signs.. its horrible..
The constant stimulation from various electronic devices almost 24 hours a day for everyone can’t be helping much either. Especially since giving you child a phone or tablet equates to modern day parenting for some.
Not sure if its slightly simplistic saying this but im going to stick my neck out anyway….
Lack of physical activity **may** be a huge contributing factor here. Kids and young people are put under so much pressure from an early age, everything linked to screens (both school work and play) really reduces the amount of time they can do physical activity to blow of steam and de-stress. Physical activity (any, doesn’t have to be a sports team etc, just moving and upping the heartrate helps to destress and increases the body’s ability to sleep. Healthy body = healthy mind.
Yes its not the only factor at play here. But modern schooling, life, lack of free opportunities for fitness and financial pressures seems to reduce a young persona ability to be active. Coupled with the fact that we were all locked down for 1-2 years could be a factor.
While i have an issue with how school sports are normally run, all people, young and old should be able to get out and move around, be active etc. It helps no end with all sorts of things.
Not saying its the only factors but its probably contributing.
We’re being dumbed down.
Bombarded with pointless apps and games,consuming nasty energy drinks on a massive fucking scale,eating too much sugar,everything can be delivered,streaming services,throwing drugs at folk for problems that could be resolved by another means.
You only have to look at the US where melatonin gummies are freely available, and calpol in blimin bear shapes. People are so quick to give their children drugs, it’s hard when you’re exhausted and burning the candle at both ends, but it’s a dangerous road!
TIL: Melatonin is a sleeping drug. Here I am with my stash of benzos looking at it like if it was heroin.
Wonder how linked this is to phone use. I work in schools and telling kids not to look at their phone for an hour before bed is met with faces of total confusion
What about drugs for people who can hear other people’s children
15 comments
The number of children being prescribed drugs to help them sleep has almost tripled in the past seven years, amid concerns that medication is being overused because of a lack of support for families.
An analysis of NHS data by The Pharmaceutical Journal found that more than 60,000 children had been prescribed the hormone melatonin in March 2022. This compares with 20,881 patients under the age of 18 in April 2015, an increase of 168 per cent.
Melatonin is a hormone that occurs naturally in the body and plays an important role in the body’s sleep cycle. However, it has increasingly been prescribed by doctors in pill form as a treatment for children with sleep problems — particularly those with other conditions such as ADHD.
In recent years new products have come on the market with a short-term course of melatonin recommended for sleep problems in children but only under specialist supervision. However, the rise in prescriptions has led to concern that it may be being overused — and for longer periods.
While it has fewer side-effects than many other drugs taken to aid sleep, it can cause sleepiness in the daytime, headaches, stomach aches and nausea. There are also concerns that there have been few studies of any long-term effects melatonin may have on children.
Josephine Arendt, emeritus professor of endocrinology at the University of Surrey, said that she was worried by the trend of increased prescription. “[Melatonin] has profound effects on reproductive function in animals that depend on day length to time their seasonal physiology,” she said. “It takes a long time to find out if it has effects on human development. Small studies in children suggest it is safe. But more needs to be done.”
Vicki Beevers, chief executive of The Sleep Charity, told the journal that the rising number of patients on melatonin was “disappointing”. She said: “The first line of intervention should always be behavioural . . . but, unfortunately, many families can’t access this; it’s an absolute postcode lottery.”
Beevers added that sleep issues were on the rise across all age groups with the pandemic playing a significant part. “People were having more screen time, reduced exercise opportunities, a loss of routine and there was increased anxiety,” she said.
Stuart Peirson, professor of circadian neuroscience at Oxford University, said that because melatonin was safer than other sedative or hypnotic drugs, doctors may be being tempted to use it “in place of behavioural interventions, which are likely to be more effective and have fewer side-effects”.
“Whilst melatonin is regarded as being quite safe, it is actually a hormone. As such, long-term use of a hormone to treat sleep, where the effects are limited, is probably not a good trend.”
However, Alastair Sutcliffe, professor of general paediatrics at UCL, who was part of the team behind a trial that found melatonin was safe and helpful in treating severe sleep problems in children, said the rise in prescriptions could be associated with greater awareness of its usefulness. “There’s been a great deal of slowness in the profession [from] GPs and some paediatricians, despite the trial showing some benefit — and other trials subsequently — to using it,” he said. “My guess is that need is now being addressed.”
He said that because melatonin was a substance naturally produced by the body, it was less likely to have adverse effects than hypnotic sleeping pills.
Alastair Paterson, a specialist clinical pharmacist, described the rise in prescribing as “shocking” but said that it was a “trend” he had noticed “anecdotally in practice for a long time”.
“When we think about melatonin prescribing, young people are potentially the least relevant people to have it, unless there’s another reason, because they should be secreting loads and loads of melatonin.”
Behind the story
This rise in melatonin being prescribed for under-18s will in part reflect growing recognition among doctors that the drug can be useful in children.
It tends to be used in children with conditions such as autism, ADHD or learning difficulties that come with severe sleep challenges. In the past many families in that situation have turned to under-the-counter sources of the hormone — this will in part be formalising the status quo.
But there will be concern that there is a reliance on drugs because of a lack of other support for families with their children’s sleep problems.
Parents with young children would traditionally turn to their health visitor — those services are stretched thin. Specialist hospital services on sleep are few and far between, and waits for children’s mental health services are long.
Alastair Sutcliffe, professor of general paediatrics at UCL, says modern lifestyles could also play a role. “One of the characteristic things that seems to be harmful to sleeping is [blue] light that comes out of things like screens,” he said.
Children tend to have mobile phones from a quite young age, he said.
He added that school patterns could leave teenagers without enough sleep during the week, despite recent studies suggesting they are at a stage of brain development that needs more sleep than either childhood or adolescence.
Evidence on the impact of the pandemic is mixed. Some studies found that later morning starts in lockdown improved sleep duration. But sleep problems often correlate with mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression. And numerous studies have reported a rise in those matters.
What is melatonin?
Melatonin is a hormone that occurs naturally in the body, made by the pineal gland in the brain. It plays a role in the body’s circadian rhythms.
How do you get it?
It is only available as a drug on prescription in the UK, as either tablets or liquid. Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) say it can be used for both adults and children, although should generally be short-term for children and initiated by specialists.
How does it work?
According to the NHS, melatonin acts on receptors in the body to encourage sleep. Taking it as a medicine adds to the body’s natural supply of the hormone, which can help patients get to sleep and improve their sleep quality.
Is it safe?
In part because it already occurs naturally in the body, it has fewer side-effects than many other drugs taken to aid sleep. But common side-effects include feeling sleepy in the daytime, headaches, stomach aches and nausea. Some users report strange dreams or night sweats.
I’m taking like 4 different things to help me sleep, and I’m still laying here awake 😫
[deleted]
I guess growing up in a country where your entire future depends on the ability to inherit a house is quite stressful.
Further benefits of a Tory government. When will the populace learn you can not trust Tory’s? They have destroyed everything for their own profit. These people are treacherous evil
Part of the Tory plan for the future of healthcare…
1. Invest in pharmaceutical companies and private healthcare providers
2. Destroy public services
3. Make life so shit for the working class that they need drugs to function
4. Scrap NHS and reap the financial rewards of your immortality
Pfft, just melatonin? I thought this was going to be about serious sleep drugs.
Melatonin’s so soft, it makes valerian root look like a hardcore narcotic.
ETA: much of the world over, melatonin is a safe and freely available supplement. Trust the UK to make it excessively difficult to access.
its almost like living in a house with parents that are probably constantly worried and stressed about the cost of living. will have impact.
My 8 yr old nephew outright said to his mum.
“it’s ok if we cant put lights up this year, i know it costs money”.. An 8 yr old should not even be thinking about how much the lights cost, But he sees other struggling families at school and reflects them back to his own life.
We have had 2 yrs of scaremongering with covid. Years to come of “cost of living” i mean cooperate greed crisis.
I sit at home uncomfortable because its cold, if i turn the heating on, im comfortable physically, but VERY uncomfortable mentally because i know how much its costing.. My daughter is picking up on the signs.. its horrible..
The constant stimulation from various electronic devices almost 24 hours a day for everyone can’t be helping much either. Especially since giving you child a phone or tablet equates to modern day parenting for some.
Not sure if its slightly simplistic saying this but im going to stick my neck out anyway….
Lack of physical activity **may** be a huge contributing factor here. Kids and young people are put under so much pressure from an early age, everything linked to screens (both school work and play) really reduces the amount of time they can do physical activity to blow of steam and de-stress. Physical activity (any, doesn’t have to be a sports team etc, just moving and upping the heartrate helps to destress and increases the body’s ability to sleep. Healthy body = healthy mind.
Yes its not the only factor at play here. But modern schooling, life, lack of free opportunities for fitness and financial pressures seems to reduce a young persona ability to be active. Coupled with the fact that we were all locked down for 1-2 years could be a factor.
While i have an issue with how school sports are normally run, all people, young and old should be able to get out and move around, be active etc. It helps no end with all sorts of things.
Not saying its the only factors but its probably contributing.
We’re being dumbed down.
Bombarded with pointless apps and games,consuming nasty energy drinks on a massive fucking scale,eating too much sugar,everything can be delivered,streaming services,throwing drugs at folk for problems that could be resolved by another means.
You only have to look at the US where melatonin gummies are freely available, and calpol in blimin bear shapes. People are so quick to give their children drugs, it’s hard when you’re exhausted and burning the candle at both ends, but it’s a dangerous road!
TIL: Melatonin is a sleeping drug. Here I am with my stash of benzos looking at it like if it was heroin.
Wonder how linked this is to phone use. I work in schools and telling kids not to look at their phone for an hour before bed is met with faces of total confusion
What about drugs for people who can hear other people’s children