Have trouble remembering things? Get more sleep.
“Sleep is the No. 1 enhancer of cognitive functioning,” David Dinges told “The Role of Sleep in Memory and Learning” conference attendees in Washington, D.C. last month.
The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine sleep expert noted the high cost of sleep deprivation: more errors, poor decisions, riskier behavior, mood swings and exhaustion. Sleep-related problems reduce work productivity and trigger accidents. Just a two-second lapse at 60 mph can mean disaster.
New research reveals another cost. Loss of sleep time is eroding our learning potential up to 40 percent, said Matthew Walker, a researcher with University of California-Berkeley’s Psychology, Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory.
Effective learning is like cooking, Walker says. Flavor’s enhanced when ingredients have time to simmer. Sleeping before and after learning something new — playing an instrument,operating equipment, conceptualizing information — helps consolidate and integrate memories. Your brain prepares to learn, and continues to learn, “offline” — i.e., when you’re asleep.
Researchers made this conclusion after mapping activation in the brain when asleep and awake.
“Sleep shifts the geography of knowledge within the brain … to more efficient locations,” Walker explains. You go to sleep with new jigsaw pieces on your mind and “wake up with a completed puzzle.”
Well-rested test subjects demonstrated markedly better memory retrieval the next day.
Sleep to beat the Monday blahs
Many rue losing that precious hour of sleep to Daylight Saving Time. But according to a September 2007 survey of 2,338 adults [by Harris Interactive], more than one-third kick the work week off on the wrong foot by getting too little sleep Sunday nights year-round, and over two-thirds reported trouble sleeping on Sundays.
“One of my patients recently found himself driving east on the westbound interstate highway lanes, having taken the wrong entrance ramp in a fog of sleep inertia,” cautions Marc Raphaelson, with Greater Washington Sleep Doctors. “People need to be aware of the effects lack of sleep can have.”
Adopt these habits to rest easier:
– Address stresses in your life.
– Avoid over-caffeination, particularly in the latter half of the day.
– Exercise, but no closer than three hours to bedtime.
– Make your bed a restful place; try eyeshades and even ear plugs if necessary.
– If you can’t fall asleep within 30 minutes, don’t toss and turn. Engage in a relaxing activity such as reading or listening to calming music.
