A new study reveals that teens who go to bed early and sleep for a long time have better cognitive abilities than those who don’t.
The international academic journal Cell Report published a study titled “Teenagers who go to bed early and sleep for a long time have sharper brains.” This research suggests that adolescents who embrace the early bird lifestyle and clock in more sleep hours are rocking superior cognitive skills compared to their night owl buddies.
Researchers from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom separated roughly 3,000 teenagers into three groups and examined their sleeping patterns and cognitive abilities. The first group slept for an average of 7 hours and 10 minutes, the middle group slept for 7 hours and 21 minutes, and the last group slept for an average of 7 hours and 25 minutes.
Out of the three groups, the one that slept the longest had the lowest heart rate while they were asleep. The third group performed the best on cognitive tests, but there was no discernible difference in academic performance between the three groups. The first and second groups came next.
According to brain scan results, the third group of teenagers had the largest brain volume and the best brain function. Cognitive ability is known to be directly correlated with brain volume.
The research team explained that cognitive ability develops as memories are strengthened during sleep. They advised teenagers to improve their sleep habits by exercising regularly and avoiding late-night use of smart devices like cell phones, emphasizing that small changes in sleep routines can lead to significant improvements over time. Colin Espy, a professor at Oxford University, also stressed that humans rely heavily on sleep for brain development, particularly during adolescence, and described the trend of teenagers going to bed late and sleeping less as a serious concern.
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