On a weeknight, your teenager has their bedroom light on. It is difficult to get enough sleep for school the next day.
The brains and behavior of young teenagers are shown in our new research.
The shift in sleep pattern increased the risk of having behavioral problems.
Night owls can take solace in the fact that it isn't all bad.
Teenagers change the sleep patterns of people. Teens can sleep later and have a lie in the next day.
Teens shift from being a morninglark to a night owl. They prefer to sleep later in the evening and wake up later the next day.
Teens' school and work can be affected by this shift. Teens who are night owls are more likely to have emotional and behavioral problems than teens who are morning larks.
Morninglarks and night owls have different brain structures. Differences in the grey and white matter have been linked to differences in emotional wellbeing.
It's not clear how this relationship will come about. Is night owls more likely to have emotional and behavioral problems? Do emotional and behavioral problems make someone become more of a night owl?
We followed teenagers for a long time, trying to answer these questions.
Over 200 teens and their parents were asked to fill out a series of questionnaires about their sleep habits. Over the course of seven years, participants repeated the questionnaires.
Two brain scans were done on the teens to look at their brain development. We looked at the structure of the brain's white matter to understand how it works.
Night owls and morning larks have different structures of white matter. Our study is the first to look at how sleep preferences might affect the growth of white matter.
Teens who became night owls in early adolescence were more likely to have behavioral problems later in life. This included more aggression, rule-breaking, and bad behavior.
They weren't at increased risk of emotional issues.
This relationship did not happen in the opposite direction. We found that emotional and behavioral problems did not affect whether a teenager became more of a morning lark or night owl.
Teens who became night owls had a higher rate of brain development than teens who remained morning larks.
The white matter of night owls did not increase as much as teens.
Growth of white matter is important for cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development in teenagers.
Previous research shows that morning larks and night owls have different brain structures. These changes might emerge in the teenage years according to previous research.
Being a night owl increases the risk of having behavioral problems and delayed brain development in later adolescence.
The importance of focusing on teens' sleep-Wake habits early in adolescence is highlighted by these findings. It's important to get enough sleep for mental and brain health.
Night owls can take solace in the fact that it isn't all bad. Morning lark and night owl preferences are not set in stone. According to research, we can change our sleep preferences.
Exposure to light can affect our sleep habits. Reducing exposure to bright lights and screens can be used to modify our preferences.
Our internal clock can be shifted to a more morning-oriented rhythm if we are exposed to light in the morning. If your teen wants to have breakfast outside, you can encourage them to go onto a balcony or into the garden.
Maria Di Biase and Rebecca Cooper are both PhD candidates in neuroscience at The University of Melbourne.
Under a Creative Commons license, this article is re-posted. The original article is worth a read.
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