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Early adolescence is associated with major changes in sleep-circadian processes, which, combined with biopsychosocial factors, contribute to a decline in sleep duration. Insufficient sleep in childhood and adolescence is associated with future adverse cognitive and mental health outcomes including depression and anxiety. As part of a Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Grant, scientists from Pitt Psychiatry investigated the association between insufficient sleep, white matter development in the brain, and adverse mental health outcomes. 

In a sample of children transitioning into early adolescence, João Paulo Lima Santos, MD (Research Instructor in Psychiatry); Adriane Soehner, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry); Cecile Ladouceur, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology); and Amelia Versace, MD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry), leveraged National Institutes of Health-funded Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study data to examine the longitudinal effects of insufficient sleep on white matter tracts in a large and heterogeneous sample of 9–12 year-olds, using a combination of state-of-the-art metrics (Neurite Orientation Dispersion and Density Imaging) and tractography approaches.

“While sleep is crucial for brain development, its role in white matter changes during this sensitive period remains underexplored. Investigating how insufficient sleep — a modifiable factor — influences white matter development during this transition could reveal important mechanisms underlying emotional and cognitive challenges,” said Dr. Lima Santos, first and corresponding author of the study recently published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

The investigators found that sleeping less than nine hours at night between late childhood and early adolescence was associated with poorer white matter coherence in several white matter tracts. In addition, the effects of insufficient sleep were mainly focal, rather than widespread, and that worsening fiber coherence in the cingulum bundle was associated with more severe anxiety/depression problems in early adolescence.

“Our findings underscore the critical role of sleep on white matter development during adolescence, demonstrating in this sample of 9-to12-year-olds that sleeping less than nine hours between late childhood and early adolescence can have long-term effects on the shaping of white matter pathways that support cognitive and emotional regulation functions. Furthermore, our findings offer valuable insights into how deviations from normative development in structural connectivity can contribute to the emergence of internalizing problems, highlighting the potential for early interventions aimed at targeting modifiable factors, such as sleep, to promote brain health during this sensitive developmental period,” said Dr. Versace, the study’s senior author.

The Impact of Insufficient Sleep on White Matter Development in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence
Lima Santos JP, Soehner AM, Ladouceur CD, Versace A.
Journal of Adolescent Health, Volume 76, Issue 2, 2025, Pages 220-227, ISSN 1054-139X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.10.007.