Not getting enough sleep or going to bed too late leads to a decrease in the gray matter volume of the adolescent brain and affects school performance. These conclusions were obtained by researchers from Inserm, in collaboration with the National Institute of Health and Welfare and the Academy of Finland, who studied the brain and the sleeping habits of 177 students in the Paris region. 14 years old. These jobs are published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Lack of attention and lack of concentration
Middle school students who took part in the study went to bed on average at 10:20 p.m. on weekdays to get up at 7:06 a.m. and went to bed at 11:30 p.m. on weekends to get up at 9.45 a.m. But with strong disparities between adolescents.
The researchers found that a short sleep time (less than 7h) on weekdays and a late bedtime on weekends, were correlated with smaller volumes of gray matter in three brain regions involved in attention, concentration, and the ability to perform simultaneous tasks .
“The most significant result of our study is undoubtedly the one which shows that the later adolescents go to bed on weekends, the more their gray matter volume is reduced” explains Jean Luc Martinot, Inserm research director, and co-author of the study. However, the researchers also found that poor grades obtained by students were associated with less gray matter in the frontal regions, those whose volume is reduced by a late bed at the weekend.
For researchers, this study suggests ensuring that adolescents acquire good sleeping habits during this period of their brain maturation.
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