Update for youths participating in the Longitudinal Adolescent Brain Study

The LABS team have recently made a discovery about the myelin in adolescent brains.

Myelin (pronounced mile-in) is a fancy word for the fatty ‘insulation’ around nerves in our brain.

Nerves send signals across different regions of our brain, and myelin make the speed of that transmission 100 times faster.

Myelin in the brain’s frontal lobe are believed to influence mental health, as they allow us to gain faster control of our reactions.

To understand this, think of watching a scary movie. When you see a ghost on the screen, the nerves in the frontal lobe tell you ‘don’t worry – it’s not a real ghost, it’s just a movie!’ and the myelin make the transmission of that message faster. So, without myelin, your fear lasts a little longer.

Myelin form in different regions of our brain at different periods of our lives, from the time we’re born and through adolescence.

It is not known when myelin are formed in the frontal lobe and therefore start to have a positive impact on mental health.

LABS is the first study to confirm that myelin have not yet formed in the frontal lobe of 12-year-olds.

As the study progresses, we’ll look for evidence of myelin in the frontal lobe of 13-year-olds then 14-year-olds, until we confirm at what age it forms.

As a part of this, we’ll also investigate the impact poor sleep has on myelin in the frontal lobe.

Poor sleep is believed to impact its development, but no one has confirmed the exact age that this occurs.

Finding the earliest signs of influences on mental health, like myelin, is only possible through the ongoing participation of LABS Legends like you. Thank you.

Fun fact

Myelin make up most of the white matter in our brain. Because they are so fatty they are white in colour – which is how white matter got its name.**