[Habits and problems with sleep from 6 to 14 years in the Valencian community. Children's own view]

The sleep habits and the prevalence of sleep problems have been poorly evaluated globally in Spain. The objective is to find out the opinions of the paediatric population in of an autonomous community as a whole (Comunidad Valenciana) on sleep and its difficulties, and to analyse their distribution by age, sex and geographical origin.

An observational, descriptive epidemiological study of prevalence. The Children Sleep Habits Questionnaire was used. The sample was obtained proportionally to the population of the three provinces of the Community of Valencia and depending on the place of residence: urban and rural, coastal zone/Interior. We evaluated the responses of 1507 questionnaires.

Between 91.2% and 76.1% believed that they have problems sleeping with a relationship of dependency with age. Fifteen percent of the sample lack a regular sleep schedule during school days and 19.7% of the 9-11 years themselves decided their own sleep schedules during school days. A majority (53.9% of the 12-15 years had nightmares more than once per week and 37.4% (6-8 years), 25.3% (9-11 years) and 31.8% (12-15 years) never woke up tired or did so only once per week.

Poor sleep habits are prevalent. It is necessary to increase the educational measures and explain the importance of sleep. Teenagers are a particularly sensitive to poor sleep habits group. Environmental factors (place of residence) should be taken into account when assessing sleep.