Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.)Dec 3, 2014

How Sleep and Body Clock Changes Relate to Alcohol Use Problems in Teens

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Apr 1, 2026

Abstract

Adolescence may experience significant changes in sleep patterns, with circadian rhythms shifting to later times.

Circadian misalignment and sleep loss during adolescence are linked to affect dysregulation and increased risk-taking behaviors.
Developmental changes in brain structure and function during adolescence may influence reward processing.
Altered reward function could be a contributing factor to the initiation of alcohol use during this developmental period.
Sleep and circadian disturbances are proposed to interact with reward processing changes to heighten the risk for alcohol use disorder.

Simplified

Adolescence is a time of marked changes across sleep, circadian rhythms, brain function, and alcohol use. Starting at puberty, adolescents' endogenous circadian rhythms and preferred sleep times shift later, often leading to a mismatch with the schedules imposed by secondary education. This mismatch induces circadian misalignment and sleep loss, which have been associated with affect dysregulation, increased drug and alcohol use, and other risk-taking behaviors in adolescents and adults. In parallel to developmental changes in sleep, adolescent brains are undergoing structural and functional changes in the circuits subserving the pursuit and processing of rewards. These developmental changes in reward processing likely contribute to the initiation of alcohol use during adolescence. Abundant evidence indicates that sleep and circadian rhythms modulate reward function, suggesting that adolescent sleep and circadian disturbance may contribute to altered reward function, and in turn, alcohol involvement. In this review, we summarize the relevant evidence and propose that these parallel developmental changes in sleep, circadian rhythms, and neural processing of reward interact to increase risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD).

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How Sleep and Body Clock Changes Relate to Alcohol Use Problems in Teens

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