Sleep habits, academic performance, and the adolescent brain structure.
Sci Rep. 2017-02-09; 7(1):
DOI: 10.1038/srep41678
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Urrila AS(1)(2)(3), Artiges E(1)(4), Massicotte J(1), Miranda R(1), Vulser H(1),
Bézivin-Frere P(1), Lapidaire W(1), Lemaître H(1), Penttilä J(1)(5), Conrod
PJ(6)(7), Garavan H(8), Paillère Martinot ML(1)(9), Martinot JL(1)(10); IMAGEN
consortium.
Collaborators: Banaschewski T, Flor H, Fauth-Bühler M, Poutska L, Nees F, Grimmer
Y, Struve M, Heinz A, Ströhle A, Kappel V, van Noort BM, Poline JB, Schwartz Y,
Thyreau B, Ireland J, Rogers J, Bordas N, Bricaud Z, Filippi I, Galinowski A,
Gollier-Briant F, Ménard V, Schumann G, Desrivières S, Cattrell A, Goodman R,
Stringaris A, Nymberg C, Reed L, Barker GJ, Ittermann B, Brühl R, Smolka M,
Hübner T, Müller K, Bokde AL, Büchel C, Bromberg U, Gallinat J, Fadai T, Gowland
P, Lawrence C, Paus T.
Author information:
(1)Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM Unit 1000
“Neuroimaging &Psychiatry”, University Paris Sud – University Paris Saclay,
University Paris Descartes, 97 Bd de Port Royal, 75014, Paris, France.
(2)National Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Health, Unit of
Mental Health, P.O. Box 30, 00271 Helsinki, Finland.
(3)University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Central Hospital, Department of
Psychiatry/Adolescent Psychiatry, P.O. Box 803, 00029 HUS, Helsinki, Finland.
(4)Department of Psychiatry 91G16, 4 place du Général Leclerc, Orsay Hospital, GH
Nord-Essonne, 91400 Orsay, France.
(5)Adolescent Psychiatry Department, Medical school, FI-33014 Tampere University,
Finland.
(6)Department of Psychiatry, Université de Montréal, CHU Ste Justine Hospital,
175 Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal, QC H3T 1C4, Canada.
(7)Department of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry,
Psychology &Neuroscience, King’s College, 16 De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF,
United Kingdom.
(8)Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, 6436 UHC, University of Vermont. 1
South Prospect Street, Burlington, VT 05401, USA.
(9)APHP, Adolescent Psychopathology and Medicine department, Maison de Solenn,
Cochin Hospital, 97 Bd de Port Royal, 75014 Paris, France.
(10)CENIR at ICM institute, Centre de Neuroimagerie de Recherche Bâtiment ICM,
47-83 boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75651 Paris Cedex 13,ss France.
Here we report the first and most robust evidence about how sleep habits are
associated with regional brain grey matter volumes and school grade average in
early adolescence. Shorter time in bed during weekdays, and later weekend
sleeping hours correlate with smaller brain grey matter volumes in frontal,
anterior cingulate, and precuneus cortex regions. Poor school grade average
associates with later weekend bedtime and smaller grey matter volumes in medial
brain regions. The medial prefrontal – anterior cingulate cortex appears most
tightly related to the adolescents’ variations in sleep habits, as its volume
correlates inversely with both weekend bedtime and wake up time, and also with
poor school performance. These findings suggest that sleep habits, notably during
the weekends, have an alarming link with both the structure of the adolescent
brain and school performance, and thus highlight the need for informed
interventions.