Just 15 extra minutes of sleep a night was able to improve the mental abilities of teenagers compared to those who slept less. Although the researchers found no difference in school grades between teens with different sleep durations, longer sleep durations had a positive effect on the ability to focus, read comprehension and solve problems. This highlights the importance of sleep during adolescence, when the brain is still developing. The study published in the journal Cell Reports.
The study involved more than 3200 children and adolescents aged 9 to 14, measuring sleep duration, health indicators, brain size and mental abilities. The participants were divided into three groups based on sleep duration: 39 percent of participants slept little, averaging 7 hours and 15 minutes per night, 24 percent slept moderately, around 7 hours and 21 minutes, and another 37 percent slept a lot, averaging 7 hours and 25 minutes.
Those who slept the longest had the largest brain volumes, the lowest heart rates, and the highest levels of connectivity between different brain regions, compared with participants who slept the shortest. Heart rates also reflected sleep quality, as teens who slept the shortest had faster heart rates, which may indicate less deep sleep. These results suggest that even a 15-minute difference in sleep duration can affect the development of teens' brains, with consequences for them later in life.
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