Improper sleep leads to stress in adolescents, says study
Posted on: 20/Jan/2016 1:49:40 PM
A study published in the journal Physiology and Behaviour has said that adolescents who have problems sleeping react more to stress. This, in turn, could affect health, behavioural and academic life, it says. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
It is well known that lack of proper sleep leads to cognitive issues and poor physical health. It is believed that it affects that euro endocrine system in the body. This regulates the reaction to stress, among other things through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis).
The study was conducted based on sleep duration and sleep problems. Cortisol levels were recorded before and after social stress. Results were also examined on the basis of gender. Speaking about this, one of the researchers said, We chose to look at sleep patterns in urban African-American adolescents, due to information we understood from earlier research in the field... This particular population is more likely to experience insufficient sleep, and their functioning is more negatively affected by lower sleep quality, so we knew that finding results for this demographic could be especially important.
