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	Podcast:		UC Science Today
	Episode:		New insight into the teen brain
	Category:		Science & Medicine
	Duration:		00:01:04
	Publish Date:		2016-12-07 18:00:00
	Description:		If you live with a teenager, you’ve probably blamed some of their antics solely on puberty and hormones. But according to new research at UCLA, it’s also that their brains are still undergoing some remodeling. Psychologist Adriana Galván, who directs UCLA’s Developmental Neuroscience Lab, says the common assumption has been that as kids enter the teen years, they need less sleep. "But in fact, they need just as much sleep, maybe even more so. And there’s actually a tendency for teenagers to sleep less, not simply because they’re on social media or they’re staying up late to complete homework, but because there’s a biological shift in how the brain induces sleep." Basically, the sleep hormone melatonin, is not released in teens until later in the night. In a study of how sleep affects their developing brains, Galván found that a lack of sleep affects a teen’s pre-frontal cortex the most. "And that translates into poorer performance on a self-control task – and that impacts their ability to regulate emotions or pay attention in class."
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