variability in sleep schedule hinders brain development
Much of focus on insufficient sleep in adolescence has been on sleep duration and sleep quality-
the average time spent asleep and how restful that sleep is. while both of those variables have been linked to cognitive functioning and emotional control, many studies, including our own (e.g.Buckhalt, keller,2007)have shown that variability in sleep schedule is related to poor functioning in multiple domains. During school yeas, wake up times are fairly stable during the week, so the variability comes with going to bed at different times. For children who build up a sleep debt, both bedtime and wake up times are typically later on weekends. all of the body's systems are dependent on timing regulated by the brain's the suprachiasmatic nucleus, and there are clock genes throughout the body that also determine timing of physiological processes. For example, the timing of melatonin release is associated with the feeling of sleepiness that induces sleep. Eating, exercising, and sleeping"off-time" is disruptive to the coordinated timing.