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Could the same brain structure be associated with better sleep in some young people and worse sleep in others?
Dr. Aaron Mattfeld of Florida International University joins Neil Hedley to discuss research on the pineal gland, anxiety, and objectively measured sleep in early adolescence. The gland is involved in melatonin production, but the study found that the relationship between pineal-gland tissue volume and sleep varied with anxiety severity.
They explore why the result was surprising, what researchers can and cannot conclude from it, and how adolescent biology and everyday choices affect sleep.
About the evidence: This is an observational association, not proof that pineal gland size causes sleep problems. Melatonin production was not directly measured.
Research: Fuertes F., Lalama M., Dick A. S. et al., Anxiety severity moderates the relation between pineal parenchymal volume and objective sleep problems in peri-adolescent youth, Scientific Reports (2026). Read the study.
Florida International University's research overview · Dr. Mattfeld's faculty profile · The Snooze Button.
Next week: Dr. Jamie Zeitzer on what your sleep tracker can—and cannot—tell you.
In North America alone, there are about 100 million people with sleep issues. Maybe you’re one of them. Every week, veteran broadcaster Neil Hedley sits down with celebrities, high achievers and the world’s top neuroscientists to try and find answers to his own 50-year battle with sleep issues in the hope that he might find an answer that works for you, too.