Sleep, Teens and Cognitive Development: From NY Magazine, “Overstimulated, overscheduled kids are getting at least an hour’s less sleep than they need, a deficiency that, new research reveals, has the power to set their cognitive abilities back years.” Not a whole lot new here if you’ve been watching the news on sleep and teenagers, but this one of the most comprehensive articles I’ve seen (props to YSMarko).

. . . Blame it on Junk Sleep: Also, why aren’t teens getting the sleep they need? Stress and overscheduling to be sure. But this article also blames it on Junk Sleep — the kind of sleep teens get when cell phone calls and text messages arrive at all hours of the day and night. (It’s also the kind of sleep you get with a new baby in the house. I’m looking forward to this in the days to come. . . NOT). Here’s another article on Junk Sleep from Reuters.

Archbishop of Canterbury “Attacks” the United States: Well, that’s how Reuters puts it in this article. Rowan Williams has some harsh words for the United States in an interview given to a Muslim magazine. I think his assertion that the British took the moral high ground during colonization is a bit off, but his assessment of the United States may not be. Either way, it’s causing a firestorm.

Philosophy Major? We Want You: Apparently philosophy majors are all the rage in the U.K. Yay! My undergrad degree is finally worth something. Although, I didn’t pay attention much in college, so I tell everyone I have a B.S. in philosophy. (There’s a joke in there, sit with it a moment.) In other news, youth ministry degrees are still worthless.

I lectured recently on neuroscience and youth ministry for Kenda Creasy Dean’s Advanced Studies in Youth, Church and Culture. Yes, teenagers and brains. Everybody seems to have a joke about the teenage brain, or the lack thereof. In more than a decade of youth ministry I’ve heard my fair share of snide comments from pastors and laity alike about the mental ineptitude of the youth I work with. You mean they have a brain? The teenagers in my house are brain dead. And the comments keep coming.

Of course, contrary to popular conception, neuroscientists are finding that the teenage brain is a place of incredible activity. There are roughly 100 billion neurons firing away within the human brain, and teenage brains are no exception. In fact, teenagers appear to have more neurons than they will by the time they turn 25. But one difference (among many) between teen and adult brains is that there is an incredible plasticity to the teenage brain. It’s being shaped and moulded in amazing ways. The 100 billion neurons of the teenage brain are still in the process of forming synaptic connections to other neurons. Key areas of the teenage brain have not yet become all that they will be. In light of plasticity and the 100 billion neurons of the teenage brain, it was with interest that I stumbled upon this: (more…)