It is time to focus on young people's mental wellbeing

2024-11-06

“We must give teenagers the courage and motivation to put themselves in the driver's seat of their own lives,” says Anni Grosse, General Manager at Det Syns Inte, who together with Lotta Borg Skoglund, Senior Attending Psychiatrist at SMART Psykiatri, will join Uppsala University’s new initiative Kunskap För Livet to focus on young people's mental wellbeing.

Numerous national reports show how an increasing number of Swedish teenagers suffer from mental health problems. This trend is mainly identified among young females, and in a recently published study, 73 percent answered that they suffer from anxiety or worry. The picture is further confirmed in the National Public Health Survey, where a large proportion of Swedish 15-year-olds state that they experience recurrent stress as a result of schoolwork.

“Our mental health deserves just as much attention as our physical health. We must give every person the conditions to feel well, but also the tools to understand our brain and how it works. At Kunskap För Livet, I will present a model that I hope the students can use to strengthen their wellbeing,” says Lotta Borg Skoglund, Senior Attending Psychiatrist at SMART Psykiatri and digital self-help tool Letterlife, who 18 November will meet 1550 high school students in the Uppsala University Main Auditorium.

Många unga sover så lite att de enligt kliniska riktlinjer lider av sömnbrist

Many young people suffer from sleep deprivation

Swedish project Det Syns Inte (Hur Man Mår) recently asked 2,700 high school and junior high school students about their digital habits and mood. Their answers confirm that many struggle with anxiety and troublesome thoughts, but also identify an almost unlimited screen time as a contributing factor: As many as 73 percent of all young people feel that they spend too much time online. The majority of all eighth graders multitask while doing their homework. Every third girl in schoolyear 8 use their mobile phone at least an hour after they hit the bedroom at night. An equal percentage of 18 year old females sleep so little that they, according to clinical guidelines, suffer from sleep deprivation.

“Today, young people to a large extent shape their identity online, where the ideals of a "successful" person are largely defined based on what is awarded exposure in social media: Unrealistic ideals of beauty and presentations of perfect lives that in fast paced clips easily increase our perceived stress regarding achievements in both school and life. Our smart gadgets are fantastic tools, but they can also easily outcompete important protective factors – such as sleep, exercise and close relationships – that make us feel good and must keep in balance,” states Anni Grosse, General Manager at Det Syns Inte, who will also join Kunskap För Livet.

The fact that girls generally rate their well-being lower than boys seems related to the fact that many girls compare themselves to material they encounter in social media: Another study shows that 8 out of 10 females aged 16 to 29 have such body complexes that it limit their everyday life. The problem is reinforced by the fact that every other teenager turn to social media to escape difficult feelings and to face their challenges. This negative circle is closed by the fact that increased screen time, and especially social media, interferes with the possibility to develop a healthy self-image.

Med modet att sätta sig i förarsätet för sitt egna liv

We must empower young people to face their challenges

“It is amazing to get to meet so many from the next generation at once in the Uppsala University Main Auditorium. Once there, I hope to convey knowledge that will help these young people to better understand themselves, to support each other and, through realizing that they are not alone in their experiences, give them the courage and motivation to put themselves in the driver's seat of their own lives,” says Anni Grosse.

There is certainly room to reverse the negative trends: International comparisons confirm that Sweden is a country with conditions for well-being. Most young people in Sweden still describe their general state of health as good. And there are plenty of knowledge-based advice to turn to. A challenge, however, is to make teens listen, and that we sometimes need new voices to deliver the message is one of the reasons Uppsala University is gathering a selection of Sweden's leading experts to, together with the students, determine the direction for a sustainable lifestyle.

“When asked to participate in the University Main Auditorium, I never hesitated. Our young people’s mental health is one of society's most important issues, and I hope to awaken their curiosity about how their brains work, provide an understanding that all brains are different and, not least, a will to contribute to a culture where all brains are allowed to grow and contribute in the best way possible, says Lotta Borg Skoglund.