Teenagers, sleep and brain changes

Adolescents are renowned for their ability to sleep and for their erratic behaviour.

A recent study examining adolescent brain activity during sleep reveals what is happening in the brains of adolescents (that may help explain their behaviour!).

The study, led by Dr Ian Campbell and Prof Irwin Feinberg at the University of California, involved 67 adolescents. The researchers took electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings of their brainwaves while sleeping. They found that there was a 60% drop in the activity of delta waves in the brain as the children moved through puberty, particularly between the ages of 12 and 16 years. Delta waves occur during non-rapid eye movement sleep, the phase of sleep where the brain recuperates from its activity during the day.

Changes in brainwaves indicate that pruning of brain cells occurs at this time. As discussed in our earlier blog, Neuroplasticity in Children, pruning involves brain cells and the connections between them being removed, leading to changes in brain efficiency.

Another researcher, Prof Mick Hunter of the University of Newcastle, stated that "People don't realise what massive changes occur in adolescence in a very short period of time. There are so many changes - physiologically, mentally and socially". These changes appear to be interdependent.

These findings may have implications for the study of mental illness such as schizophrenia. It may be that errors that occur during the rapid process of brain reorganisation at the end of adolescence give rise to mental illness.

Mental illness can be associated with cognitive difficulties. To learn more about the relationship between mental illness and cognition, contact us.

Sleep and cognition: or, your brain needs sleep!

Most people are likely to be familiar with the expression "sleep on it" - meaning that sleep can be beneficial to problem solving and decision making.

Emerging evidence shows that sleep is even more important to brain health and cognition, particularly memory, than we realise.

It has been known for some time that sleep apnoea, a sleep disorder, is a risk factor for certain types of dementia.

A new Australian study has found that another sleep disorder is associated with memory problems. People with rapid eye movement sleep disorder (RBD) have twice the risk of developing memory problems and Parkinson's disease. RBD is a sleep disorder that involves abnormal behaviour during the sleep phase where rapid eye movement occurs. People with RBD tend to act out their dreams.

The study found that a third of the people with RBD developed mild cognitive impairment or Parkinson's disease within four years of being in the study. This is a rate that is more than twice that of people without RBD. Behavioural neurologist Dr Brendon Boot was the lead author of the paper, which has been published in the Annals of Neurology.

He says being able to identify those patients who are a greater risk of mild cognitive impairment or Parkinson's disease will mean earlier treatment for those affected.

Early invention is vital because as these disorders advance they destroy brain cells.