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Sleeping pills for teens?  Not so fast.

Who would write a prescription for sleeping pills to a child or adolescent? Obviously, someone is, because in 2004 more than 180,000 people under the age of 20 were taking prescription sleep medications, an 85% increase from just four years prior. Yet no prescription sleep aids are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in people under 18, largely because their effects in children have not been well studied.

Very often, doctors prescribe these pills as much for the sake of the parents as for the kids. If you have a child who isn't functioning in school because s/he is constantly fatigued from lack of sleep, or their insomnia is keeping you awake at night from the noise, it can be almost as taxing on you.

While the recent generation of sleep medications don't have as many side effects and are not as habit-forming as the older ones, at best they only represent a short-term solution.

Thankfully there are safe and natural solutions to your teen's sleep troubles. The first step is to reduce caffeine and sugar in their diet and make sure they stick to a consistent bedtime. Listening to soothing music can also help to relax your teenager, making it easier to fall asleep.

Often restlessness and the inability to sleep is the result of an overactive mind. Providing teens with a way to express their thoughts and worries, such as a journal, may help to relieve some of the nervous tension preventing them from falling asleep. In addition to these methods you might also want to consider a natural, homeopathic sleep aid such as Hyland's Calms Forté^TM or Calms Forté 4 Kids^TM. Calms Forté provides 100% all-natural temporary symptomatic relief of simple nervous tension and occasional sleeplessness, that does not contain sedatives or produce side-effects.