The Imperative of Cultivating Healthy Adolescent Sleep Habits

• July 8, 2010 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

As dedicated parents and teachers, when we talk to adolescents, we tend to focus our coaching on coping with the big dangers like drugs, alcohol and sex. We talk a lot about the imperative of developing good eating and study habits. But when was the last time you talked to the teen in your life about sleep? Research has shown us that our young people’s sleep habits are suffering, creating negative ripples across their waking lives. Quite simply, we need to become better "sleep coaches."

Like breathing or eating, sleep is a physiological necessity. As sleeping and waking habits change during our adolescent years, youngsters begin to experience the effects of lost sleep. Even losing less than an hour a night on a regular basis can result in serious problems. In their 1998 study, "Sleep Schedules and Daytime Functioning in Adolescents", Amy Wolfson and Mary Carskadon examined the correlations between sleep/wake habits, student characteristics and daytime functioning (mood, performance and behavior). Their study of 3,120 students uncovered concerning trends:

• Forty-five percent of tenth to twelfth graders go to bed after midnight on school nights, and 90% go to bed later than that on weekends.
• On weekends, 10- to 15-year-olds get 30 to 60 minutes more sleep; by age 18, that difference goes up to over 2 hours.
• Reductions in sleep time were directly attributable to later bedtimes paired with no change to wake-up time.
• Students getting C’s, D’s and F’s got, on average, 25 minutes less sleep and went to bed 40 minutes later than their counterparts getting A’s and B’s.

See Wolfson and Carskadon’s paper for complete data, but on the whole, adolescents in their studies overall did not get enough sleep, which directly correlated with reduced capacities during the day.

So we know that these important minutes of sleep are being lost, but what are the neurological outcomes? In his 1999 study, "The Consequences of Insufficient Sleep for Adolescents," Ronald Dahl describes five effects that can create negative ripples across an adolescent’s life, such as: 1) sleepiness, 2) tiredness 3) mood, attention, and behavior, 4) impact of emotional and behavioral problems, and 5) bi-directional effects.

• Sleepiness: While highly stimulating activities can stave off sleepiness, a sleepy brain drops into sleep mode during periods of low stimulation. For a sleep-deprived adolescent, activities like reading, driving and classroom learning can be prime dozing times.
• Tiredness and decreased motivation: When we're tired, we find it difficult to initiate and follow through on tasks, especially those that we might find boring. Our motivation and ability to focus on future goals drops; we become less able to engage in activities like reading or studying.
• Emotional variability: Sleep-deprived brains experience a greater range of emotions. Adolescents who haven’t had enough sleep are more likely to experience more extremes of responses like anger, aggression, frustration, sadness and impatience.
• Attention and performance: Youngsters working with a lack of sleep experienced mental lapses in attention during simple tasks, as well as reduced abilities to perform more complex, multifaceted tasks.

So what can we do to change this trend and coach our young people to have healthier sleep habits? If knowledge is power, we can give them the facts. We can actively teach the importance of sleep and the science of circadian rhythms and our innate connection to natural cycles. We can inform our students about the importance of good, healthy sleep, and help them understand some of the real, serious consequences like those above. For some resources, check out this Circadian Rhythms Fact Sheet from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences or these five ideas for better sleep written specifically for teenagers.

Finally, as parents, we can create quiet, comforting evening environments and rituals in our homes to move our families from the fast pace of the day to a slower, protected, unpressured environment where sleep can come. For hints and tips, check out Sleep Rituals: Training The Body And The Mind by Dr. Michael Breus (from the Huffington Post, January 2010).

Are the teens in your life getting enough sleep?  Share your observations on the Scientific Learning Facebook page.

Categories: Brain Fitness, Family Focus, Reading & Learning

Tags: academic problems, attention, behavior, cognitive skills, health and well being, high school learning, sleep, struggling students, teacher effectiveness

Sleep: An Essential Ingredient for Memory Function

• June 3, 2010 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

We all know the old Ben Franklin quote, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." While I have not yet investigated the "wealthy" claim, Franklin was spot-on in the "healthy and wise" department; research has shown sleep to be a key contributor to optimal health and brain function.

Before we address sleep, here is a quick primer on some concepts regarding memory:

• Short-term memory, also known as "working memory," refers to memories that we use or refer to before discarding them or transferring them to long-term memory.
• Long-term memory refers to anything that happened more than a few minutes ago and breaks down into further categorizations, such as implicit/explicit and others. (See Posit Science, "Types of Memory" for a description of the different categories of memories.)
• Sleep benefits two specific forms of long-term memory: declarative (those memories that we can call up on-demand, such as facts and events) as well as procedural (those memories that are skills developed through repeated practice, such as playing the piano, keyboarding or wielding a tennis racquet).

How does the brain process information to turn it into memories? Memorization breaks down into three distinct stages:

• Stabilization, during which new data develops a resistance to interference from other information and “becomes” a memory.
• Consolidation, where memories are moved to structures in the brain where they become more permanent.
• Reconsolidation, whereby memories are strengthened, refined and modified for long-term storage as they are recalled and re-used.

Sleep plays a significant roll in the consolidation and re-consolidation stages of memory. Physiologically, slow-wave sleep (SWS) supports consolidation, while rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is more associated with reconsolidation processes.

From a purely practical standpoint, it boils down to this: a good memory requires a good night’s sleep. To keep one’s memory working, eight hours a night is a smart guideline. As for truly optimal memory function, the short daytime nap of sixty or ninety minutes—or even the five or ten minute cat nap—has been demonstrated to improve memory and recall.

For more reading, see:

• The memory function of sleep.  Diekelmann and Born.
• Memory Consolidation and reconsolidation: what is the role of sleep? (PDF) Stickgold and Walker.

 

Categories: Brain Research, Reading & Learning

Tags: cognitive skills, health and well being, memory, processing, sleep

How to Motivate Students: The Psychology of Success

• May 7, 2010 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

In my last post, we looked at the differences between the fixed and growth mindsets described by Carol S. Dweck in her research and latest book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.  In this post, we’ll look at a bit of the neurobiology at work as it relates to mindset.

In their 2008 study, "Motivation to do Well Enhances Responses to Errors and Self-Monitoring", Bengtsson, Lau and Passingham discuss how humans are unique in the animal world in that only we have the ability to reflect on our own performance.

Their research studied how self-motivation affects tasks that use working memory. They looked at how the members of each of two groups performed on a memory task. The first group was told that their cognitive abilities were actually being measured and that these abilities were related to intelligence. The other group was simply told that by participating, they were helping the researchers to develop an effective test.

Their results showed that the first group was substantially more motivated to do well than members of the second. In addition, MRIs of subjects showed that activity across multiple areas of the brain in the motivated group was extensive when making errors. Simply put, Bengtsson, Lau and Passingham’s experiment demonstrated that when one is motivated to succeed, making errors is perceived as being "in conflict with one’s ideals for oneself." From the student’s point of view making errors is something they can accept since they believe that they can learn from experience and improve their abilities. This feedback when errors occur does not align with their perception of themselves as good learners, however, so they will consistently strive to be more successful.

This small piece of information offers a great insight for us as educators. As we work with students, we can help them understand the goals and reasons behind a learning experience as well as the content or skills that represent the focus of the lesson. The more we do this, the more we can literally stimulate their brains on a neurobiological level to optimize each student’s internal learning environment.

Categories: Brain Research, Reading & Learning

Tags: academic success, cognitive skills, intelligence, learning environment, memory, motivating students, teacher impact

What is Number Sense and How Does it Relate to Math Skills?

• April 20, 2010 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

Let’s talk about the Approximate Number System, or just "the ANS." The ANS is the instinctive ability to nonverbally represent numbers. We constantly use this capability in every day decision making, such as choosing the shorter checkout line at the store or wanting to try a meal at a crowded restaurant. In these situations, our gut decisions are mathematically based. Evidence shows that many different species not only share this capacity, but use it to guide everyday behaviors such as foraging and judging time and distance.

So how does the ANS work in non-humans? Let’s do a little study of my two labs, Bella and Buddy. Both love to chase tennis balls, love to swim, and are highly competitive in the ball-chasing department. Buddy clearly exercises his ANS judgment routinely when I throw the ball into the water. If he and Bella approach the water’s edge at about the same time, they both jump in. On the other hand, if Bella beats him to the water by a significant distance, he recognizes instinctively that he can’t beat her to the ball in the water, so he’ll stop and wait until she brings it nearly to the shore. At that point, he jumps in and goes for the steal.

Why is the ANS important for math skills? It is believed that human mathematical competence comes from two representational systems. One is the "symbolic representations" that must be explicitly taught and are the basis for calculus and geometry. The other–the same one that Buddy uses above–is the older approximate number system. The evidence suggests that very young babies can use this ANS to make approximate number judgments, differentiating one item from two, two items from three and three items from greater than three. Further, a growing body of evidence indicates that individual differences in math achievement are related to variations in the acuity of an evolutionarily ancient, unlearned approximate number sense. Interestingly, evidence also suggests that this ANS may be subject to influence by early learning.

If you’d like to dig deeper into understanding the science of the ANS, I recommend reading Halberda and Feigernson’s 2008 study, "Developmental Change in the Acuity of the ’Number Sense’: The Approximate Number System in 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-Year-Olds and Adults." For an overview, The New York Times published a write up on the article and even included a link to an interactive, online activity that demonstrates the ANS in action.

Categories: Brain Research, Reading & Learning

Tags: cognitive skills, decision making, early learning, Innate abilities, intelligence, math

Creating the Optimal "Internal" Learning Environment

• April 1, 2010 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

In her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol S. Dweck of Stanford University tells us that there are essentially two mindsets with which we approach life: a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.

• A person with a fixed mindset views their intelligence, talents and abilities as fixed and unchanging. As a result, those with this mindset protect themselves from failure by avoiding new experiences and challenges.
• A person with a growth mindset sees him or herself as fluid and changing. They see their lives as full of opportunity and personal growth.

According to Dweck, even the very brightest students, if they have fixed mindsets, may "avoid challenges, dislike effort, and wilt in the face of difficulty." On the other hand, the less bright students—if they have a growth mindset—can be "the real go-getters, thriving on challenge, persisting intensely when things get difficult, and accomplishing more than you expected."¹

So how can we cultivate growth-oriented mindsets in our students? In a recent interview, Dweck suggested a number of practical ideas that we can employ every day in the classroom:

• Teach students to think of their brain as a muscle that strengthens with use, and have them visualize the brain forming new connections every time they learn.
• When teaching study skills, convey to students that using these methods will help their brains learn better.
• Discourage use of labels that convey intelligence as a fixed entity.
• Praise students’ effort, strategies, and progress, not their intelligence. Praising intelligence leads students to fear challenges and makes them feel less intelligent when they have difficulty.
• Give students challenging work. Teach them that challenging activities are fun and that mistakes help them learn.²

For further reading, check out Carol S. Dweck’s book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.

Web Resources:

• Smart Talking: Tell Students to Feed Their Brains
• How Can Teachers Develop Student's Motivation – and Success?

 

¹ Education World®: School Issues and Education News: Wire Side Chats: How Can Teachers Develop Students’ Motivation — and Success? 2/4/10
² Chen, Milton. " Smart Talking: Tell Students to Feed Their Brains.” www.edutopia.org/tell-students-feed-their-brains

Categories: Reading & Learning

Tags: academic problems, academic success, intelligence, learning environment, motivating students

Food and the Brain

• February 19, 2010 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

While practically every child above age seven may understand the phrase "you are what you eat," we rarely think about this phrase in terms of the brain. When it comes to what we eat, we need to talk about the brain as well, for what goes into the system affects everything from our cognitive functions to our emotions.

At the Utah State University Center for Advanced Nutrition (CAN), researchers are looking into the workings of how diet affects brain function. Their research has demonstrated a number of interesting facts as well as points of debate:

Food cravings: Food cravings are more common in women than men and appear to decrease with age. Cravings often correspond to negative moods such as depression, anxiety or mood swings. Cravings for sweets can be intense and irresistible. As to whether such cravings for carbohydrates can be classified as "addictions," CAN states that they do not meet the definition laid out in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Food and mood: While it has long been believed that intake of carbohydrates can independently affect mood and appetite, other variables such as the initial psychological/emotional state of the person as well as the meal setting can also play important roles in the mood/appetite equation. Interestingly, depression has been shown to be related to a low intake of certain essential vitamins and minerals, and increasing the intake of omega 3 fatty acids and folic acid has been shown to reduce such symptoms.

The good vs. evil caffeine debate: Some studies show that caffeine consumption does not boost performance above normal levels, although as it wears off, one does feel less alert and awake—which stimulates the intake of more caffeine to get back to normal levels. But other studies have shown that drinking coffee is associated with lower age-related cognitive decline and a lessened risk of Parkinson’s disease in older people. (The way I see it, the jury is still out on caffeine.)

Brain-boosting diets: The jury is out on these, too. Many supplements and diets are purported to boost mood, increase energy and improve memory. The problem is that these claims have yet to be demonstrated through solid research and testing. From a purely scientific perspective, the proof will be in the pudding of double-blind, placebo-controlled trials.

Above, I've only commented on a few of the ten key facts that CAN has laid out. Read all ten in their entirety at the Center for Advanced Nutrition website.

Categories: Brain Fitness

Tags: health and well being, nutrition

Building a Fit Brain: The Serious Work of Play

• February 12, 2010 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

In the world of education, especially in the early grades, we have great debates about the skills that we wish to impart to students. What do kids need to learn to do early on so they can be successful as they move forward? When it comes down to it, one of the biggies is self-control.

"Executive function"—the ability to order and control our thoughts—refers to those mental processes that allow us to process information coherently, hold and refer to items in our short term memories, avoid distractions and stay on task. Executive function takes self control. It depends upon the individual’s ability to control and filter emotions and cognitive impulses in order to get a job done.

As it turns out, research indicates that higher executive functions demonstrated early on are indicators of short as well as long-term success, both in academics and in life. According to Paul Tough in his September 27, 2009 New York Times article, "In some studies, self-regulation skills have been shown to predict academic achievement more reliably than I.Q. tests."

One program called Tools of the Mind is working to improve self-regulation abilities in young children. Now being used to teach 18,000 preK and kindergarten children in twelve states, the Tools of the Mind curriculum, created by child development scholars Deborah Leon and Elena Bodrova, is purported to teach self-regulation skills to essentially any child, regardless of socioeconomic status. At the core of their methodology is the idea that the key to developing self regulation is dramatic play, with complex, long-lasting make-believe scenarios.

While the research continues into the effectiveness of these techniques, there is no question that self-regulation is a central skill that kids need to develop early on. More information about Tools of the Mind is available at www.mscd.edu/extendedcampus/toolsofthemind/

Categories: Education Trends, Reading & Learning

Tags: academic success, attention, early learning, executive function, how children learn, memory, processing

Educating Kids about Nutrition and the Brain

• February 2, 2010 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

Whether you’re a parent or an educator, you know that getting kids to eat well is a challenge. Getting them to truly understand enough to care about what they eat can be even harder. But did you know that the subject of "health literacy" is an important element of the national education conversation? While the debate continues as to the extent of the role of education in teaching nutrition, there is little argument that we as educators truly do have a responsibility in helping our nation’s young people understand and take charge of their well-being.

Focusing the story on nutrition and the brain, here is a fun way to talk about "brain foods" with your young folks—that may give you a little insight, too.

What if students were challenged to formulate meals to affect specific systems of the body? Here’s an example: The "Brainiac Blue Plate Combo"—the ultimate brain-health meal.

Start with two slices of whole-grain bread for carbohydrates; these will get converted into glucose to power the brain’s electrical activity. (Did you know that the brain uses about 20% of our total energy every day?) To that, we might add some lean turkey, roast beef and tuna fish (mmmm!) to supply the proteins and fats that make up the basic building blocks of our neural tissues. Then, we could top it all off with a light smattering of cheese and serve it with a side of roasted potatoes and a banana to give it the perfect zinging balance of neurotransmitters, from aspartic acid to tyrosine.

Now, whether this meal might not appeal to a youngster’s gastric sensibilities, the activity of creating such a menu would be an engaging application of knowledge to a practical task, as well as a way to have some fun in the process. Let them offer their ideas in a "cooking class" setting with all the supporting scientific explanations, and you’ve introduced presentation skills into the lesson. (It goes without saying that kids would not be able to resist the "gross-out" potential of such an activity—especially if you allow them to actually make and serve such a meal.)

For more great facts and information on neuroscience and nutrition for kids, check out Dr. Eric H. Chudler’s site, Nutrition and the Brain.

 

Categories: Brain Fitness, Education Trends, Reading & Learning

Tags: health and well being, how children learn, nutrition

The 30 Million Word Gap in Language Experience Puts Kids At Risk

• January 14, 2010 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

The achievement gap begins for many students before they enter the Kindergarten classroom. Children aren´t born with a vocabulary, yet educators and reading researchers have long identified the differences in word knowledge and vocabulary as key indicators of student readiness. Here are a couple of key findings:

A gap of 30 million words in language experience exists for some children prior to entering school. In 1995, Hart and Risley published findings from a study showing vast differences in the quantity and quality of language experience in the homes of children during the first 4 years of life.

Infants and young children with inadequate language development are at-risk for developing academic difficulties.¹ Without effective intervention, the majority of these students will exit high school with academic skills well below grade level.²

1 - Catts, 1993; Rissman, Curtis, and Tallal, 1990
2 - Shaywitz et al., 1999

Categories: Brain Fitness, Reading & Learning

Tags: academic problems, academic success, achievement gap, at-risk, below grade level, intervention, language learning, vocabulary

ADHD and Academic Success

• January 5, 2010 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

As educators, we see students come through schools every day with any number of challenges—emotional, psychiatric and physical problems of all kinds. On that continuum, attention issues—even more so than depression, anxiety or disruptive behavior—appear to be more important to later success than previously thought.

A recent study led by Joshua Breslau at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, has shown that children with attention problems in kindergarten often end up having academic problems right on up through high school. They found that these kinds of problems, such as ADHD, had the greatest potential to impact a child’s future academic performance.

"The evidence suggests…that kids with attention problems don’t learn as much," said Breslau. "This starts very early for many children and is cumulative."

How can we best help these kids and ensure their success? In kindergarten and first graders, it takes looking for problems in following directions, controlling impulses and following through on tasks and projects. Once the problem is identified, parents as well as teachers must be engaged in the intervention process as early as possible to make sure that the child’s needs are met so they can get on track for a successful future.

 

Categories: Brain Research, Reading & Learning

Tags: academic problems, academic success, ADHD, attention, early learning, high school learning