Just 15 minutes more sleep could benefit adolescent brains
Sleep is essential for the body to function properly, helping to improve immune and mental health, and the brain flushes out toxins and waste products that build up during sleep, strengthening memory, and more. A new study of more than 3,000 children found that just 15 minutes of extra sleep can improve brain function.
Neural correlates of device-based sleep characteristics in adolescents: Cell Reports
Adolescents who sleep longer perform better at cognitive tasks | University of Cambridge
https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/adolescents-who-sleep-longer-perform-better-at-cognitive-tasks
Just 15 Extra Minutes of Sleep Is Linked to Brain Benefits in Young People : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/just-15-extra-minutes-of-sleep-is-linked-to-brain-benefits-in-young-people
Getting enough sleep is important for both physical and mental health, but people's sleep patterns change dramatically during adolescence, between the ages of 11 and 18, with people going to bed later and getting less sleep overall. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the ideal amount of sleep for this age group is around 8 to 10 hours, but many children don't sleep that long.
'Regular, good-quality sleep is important for our normal functioning,' said Barbara Sahakian , professor of psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. 'But while we know a lot about sleep in adulthood, we know surprisingly little about sleep during adolescence, despite this crucial period in our development. For example, how much sleep do young people get, and how does that affect brain function and cognitive ability?'
While there have been studies examining how much adolescents sleep, these generally rely on self-reporting, which may not accurately reflect how much sleep adolescents get. So, Sahakian and his team turned to data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study , conducted in the United States.
As part of the ABCD study, more than 3,200 children aged 11 to 12 were given Fitbit health trackers to collect objective data on their sleep patterns, and approximately 1,190 participants were followed up at ages 13 and 14 to confirm the results.
The analysis allowed the children to be classified into three groups based on their sleep patterns. 'Biotype 1,' comprising approximately 39% of the subjects, fell asleep the latest and woke up the earliest, with an average sleep time of 7 hours and 10 minutes. 'Biotype 2,' comprising 24% of the subjects, was at an average level across all sleep characteristics, with an average sleep time of 7 hours and 21 minutes. 'Biotype 3,' comprising 37% of the subjects, tended to go to bed the earliest and had the lowest heart rate while sleeping, with an average sleep time of 7 hours and 25 minutes.
While there were no significant differences in academic performance across the three biotypes, in cognitive tests measuring aspects such as vocabulary, reading comprehension, problem-solving, and concentration, biotype 3 performed best, followed by biotype 2, and biotype 1 performed worst.
Furthermore, children with biotype 3 had the largest brain volume and the best brain function, while children with biotype 1 had the smallest brain volume and poorest brain function.
'The difference in sleep duration between the groups was relatively small - just over 15 minutes between the best and worst sleepers - but we still saw differences in brain structure and activity, and in how they performed tasks,' Sahakian said. 'This tells us how important it is to get good quality sleep at such a critical time in life.'
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