night.
SO WHY DO WE NEED TO SLEEP?
Sleep is much more important than serving as a simple mind refresher and “cobweb” clearer. Researchers are now able to peer into the brain and watch what happens when we sleep. They are finding that sleep is quite necessary if we are to learn, remember, solidify, and improve new skills. And a good night’s sleep may also be necessary for repairing an injured brain.
First, to debunk a myth: when you go to sleep, while you may be unconscious lying there in bed, your brain is far from being “asleep.”
“There are probably many, many things that are occurring during sleep that are beneficial, things that have been assigned by evolution to that part of the night,” says Dr. Robert Stickgold, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
“My own personal favorite, and the one that I think has the best explanation for why it would have evolved originally, is that while we’re asleep the brain is going through our memory stores and trying to see what’s worth keeping, what’s worth throwing out, and how things should be strengthened and put together.”
That doesn’t mean that our bodies are not using sleep to replenish and refresh us. The bottom line on sleep, says Dr. Carlos Schenck, senior staff physician at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center in Minneapolis, is how well you feel in the morning.
“If someone says, ‘I don’t think I’m getting enough sleep,’ and yet they wake up refreshed and they function, they may be a short sleeper and may not need nearly as much sleep as the average person. So you always have to focus on the functional consequence.”
Judging how much sleep you need is very difficult. But research now shows that if you can function well during the day, and people tell you that you’re looking well and not drowsy, then you’re probably getting enough sleep.
But “if you need a double grande to get that morning going, then you’re probably not getting enough sleep,” says Stickgold, referring, of course to the caffeine jolt of coffee.
“And there’s another ominous event that’s taking place now,” warns Schenck. “There are new beers on the market that are loaded with caffeine, and so people will drink a beer in the evening and the caffeine makes them feel more alert, and yet it will greatly prolong their onset for sleep, and that could have a devastating effect on their sleep–wakefulness rhythm. You’ll be hearing more and more about these types of beers loaded with caffeine. I think it’s really going to have a very devastating effect.”
CEMENTING NEW SKILLS
But getting back to that memory consolidation idea, where it appears that our minds are using sleep to sort through what we learned during the day, Stickgold and other scientists have conducted tests that show just how crucial a good night’s sleep is to learning new skills.
Scientists noticed that when they trained study subjects on a new task and then tested them on the task a few hours later, they didn’t show any improvement at all. What they did find is that the improvement would show up later—the next day!
They discovered that people really do need to sleep on it to cement their new learning experience.
“Even if we trained them right before they went to bed, the next day they show improvement,” says Stickgold. “And it’s pretty consistent from person to person. But it varies with how much sleep they got. And the thing we saw that I scare my college students with is that the study subjects who had less than six hours of sleep showed no improvement at all the next day.”
How many college kids get six hours’ sleep?
“Although when you talk to those students who cram for exams, they’ll tell you, ‘I did fine,’ the next day. But two days later, it’s all gone. And that might be a sleep connection. We don’t know thatyet. But for this particular test, the more sleep you had in excess of six hours, the better you performed
SO WHY DO WE NEED TO SLEEP?
Sleep is much more important than serving as a simple mind refresher and “cobweb” clearer. Researchers are now able to peer into the brain and watch what happens when we sleep. They are finding that sleep is quite necessary if we are to learn, remember, solidify, and improve new skills. And a good night’s sleep may also be necessary for repairing an injured brain.
First, to debunk a myth: when you go to sleep, while you may be unconscious lying there in bed, your brain is far from being “asleep.”
“There are probably many, many things that are occurring during sleep that are beneficial, things that have been assigned by evolution to that part of the night,” says Dr. Robert Stickgold, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
“My own personal favorite, and the one that I think has the best explanation for why it would have evolved originally, is that while we’re asleep the brain is going through our memory stores and trying to see what’s worth keeping, what’s worth throwing out, and how things should be strengthened and put together.”
That doesn’t mean that our bodies are not using sleep to replenish and refresh us. The bottom line on sleep, says Dr. Carlos Schenck, senior staff physician at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center in Minneapolis, is how well you feel in the morning.
“If someone says, ‘I don’t think I’m getting enough sleep,’ and yet they wake up refreshed and they function, they may be a short sleeper and may not need nearly as much sleep as the average person. So you always have to focus on the functional consequence.”
Judging how much sleep you need is very difficult. But research now shows that if you can function well during the day, and people tell you that you’re looking well and not drowsy, then you’re probably getting enough sleep.
But “if you need a double grande to get that morning going, then you’re probably not getting enough sleep,” says Stickgold, referring, of course to the caffeine jolt of coffee.
“And there’s another ominous event that’s taking place now,” warns Schenck. “There are new beers on the market that are loaded with caffeine, and so people will drink a beer in the evening and the caffeine makes them feel more alert, and yet it will greatly prolong their onset for sleep, and that could have a devastating effect on their sleep–wakefulness rhythm. You’ll be hearing more and more about these types of beers loaded with caffeine. I think it’s really going to have a very devastating effect.”
CEMENTING NEW SKILLS
But getting back to that memory consolidation idea, where it appears that our minds are using sleep to sort through what we learned during the day, Stickgold and other scientists have conducted tests that show just how crucial a good night’s sleep is to learning new skills.
Scientists noticed that when they trained study subjects on a new task and then tested them on the task a few hours later, they didn’t show any improvement at all. What they did find is that the improvement would show up later—the next day!
They discovered that people really do need to sleep on it to cement their new learning experience.
“Even if we trained them right before they went to bed, the next day they show improvement,” says Stickgold. “And it’s pretty consistent from person to person. But it varies with how much sleep they got. And the thing we saw that I scare my college students with is that the study subjects who had less than six hours of sleep showed no improvement at all the next day.”
How many college kids get six hours’ sleep?
“Although when you talk to those students who cram for exams, they’ll tell you, ‘I did fine,’ the next day. But two days later, it’s all gone. And that might be a sleep connection. We don’t know thatyet. But for this particular test, the more sleep you had in excess of six hours, the better you performed
Similar Books
