Sleep, Circadian Rhythms, and Risk Across Health Domains in Adolescents With an Evening Circadian Preference

Abstract

Sleep and circadian rhythm changes during adolescence contribute to increased risk across emotional, behavioral, cognitive, social, and physical health domains. This study examines if sleep and dim light melatonin onset (DLMO) are related to greater risk in these 5 health domains. Participants were 163 (93 female, age = 14.7 years) adolescents with an evening circadian preference from a study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Sleep and circadian measures included weekday total sleep time (TST), bedtime, and shut-eye time assessed via sleep diary, the Children's Morningness-Eveningness Preferences scale, and DLMO. Health domains included self-reported emotional, cognitive, behavioral, social, and physical health. Later DLMO was significantly associated with shorter weekday TST, later weekday bedtime, and later weekday shut-eye time, as well as lower risk in the behavioral domain. At the trend level, later DLMO was related to fewer physical health problems. Earlier DLMO combined with a later bedtime, later shut-eye time, or shorter TST predicted greater risk in the cognitive domain. Later DLMO and shorter TST or a later bedtime predicted worse physical health. DLMO timing was not related to the emotional or social domain. There is evidence that a discrepancy between sleep behaviors and the endogenous circadian rhythm may be related to risk in the cognitive domain for adolescents with an evening circadian preference. Preliminary evidence also indicated that a delayed DLMO and shorter TST or a later bedtime may be related to vulnerability to physical health risk.

Reviewing the Role of Outdoor Lighting in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

“…It is subjacent to cell physiology in animals, plants, fungi, cyanobacteria and in some viral infections [77][78][79]. Artificial light can disrupt CR in humans [80,81] and this disruption leads to risks in the health domains [82]. Some of these risks are related to cardiovascular [83,84] and gastrointestinal complications [12,85], as well as metabolism disorders [86,87], hypertension, diabetes, stroke, dementia and depression [83].…”

Measuring the Psychobiological Correlates of Daily Experience in Adolescents

“…The processes of puberty contribute to the biological shift toward later bedtimes in adolescents, and this phase delay is correlated with maturational stage. Accurately mapping patterns of sleep behavior are essential to describing how sleep is related to health and well‐being, especially as sleep timing, quality, preference, and duration may anchor other psychobiological processes, or may mediate psychobiological pathways, such as diurnal rhythms of cortisol (e.g., Fuligni & Hardway, ; Fuligni, Arruda, Krull, & Gonzales, ; Ly, McGrath, & Gouin, ; Susman et al., ) and responses to daily experiences, including stress (Mrug, Tyson, Turan, & Granger, ) and health behaviors (e.g., Dolsen, Wyatt, & Harvey, ). Overall quality of sleep during adolescence is lower than in childhood (Crowley et al., 2007) and this can have profound effects on well‐being, not only on the following day, but on general psychosocial well‐being, including risk‐taking behavior (O'Brien & Mindell, ; Pasch, Laska, Lytle, & Moe, ), depression (Lovato & Gradisar, ), anxiety (McMakin & Alfano, ), and academic outcomes (Fuligni et al., ).…”

Factor structure and psychometric properties of the Persian versions of the Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale and Morningness–Eveningness Scale for Children

“…The level of morningness-eveningness affects performance on a wide range of cognitive tasks measuring attentional capacities, executive functioning, and memory. [ 13 ] Furthermore, the observed shift toward an evening circadian preference in adolescence, combined with early morning school start times, often results in daytime sleepiness,[ 14 ] leading to lower academic performance. [ 3 ] Therefore, daytime sleepiness and developmental changes in the sleep-wake cycle during adolescence, including individual differences in morningness-eveningness, are interrelated facets which may be associated with impaired cognitive, affective, and academic difficulties, increases in psychiatric symptoms, and many other health problems.…”