The Correlation Between Sleep and Memory
It has long been said that sleep enhances memory. Lack of sleep, therefore, is significantly linked to short-term memory loss, poor concentration, and less comprehension on the subject at hand. Studies have been conducted in order to prove that there are these symptoms, and there are multiple findings showing widespread activity in the brain during sleep.
Most people nowadays treat sleep as simply lost time. In their drive to be more productive everyday, people tend to sacrifice sleep as they can do more when they are awake. Thus deadlines, projects, assignments, and other work-related things can be done quickly if less sleep is obtained and hence more work is done. Students tend to study intensely and cram the night before a big exam hoping to get everything inside the brain for the next day.
However, research studies show otherwise. It tells us that getting at least eight hours of sleep a day increases your chances of remembering things easily. The thoughts remain in your brain for a long time are only possible when a person has enough sleep everyday. Researchers have discovered that whenever a new idea or thought is introduced to the brain when we are awake, it is being “consolidated” in the brain during the time we sleep. So the more time we spend asleep, the more chances these memories will remain in our brain.
Studies were conducted among several students who were introduced to new words or ideas in the morning and let them sleep afterwards. They were then made to memorize the words again the next day. Test subjects who were given ample time to sleep showed higher positive results of retention compared to those who slept less. This simple study shows that there is really a correlation between sleep and memory, and sleep plays a vital role in the learning process.
The human brain is able to process learning in three basic ways:
● Acquisition – This is the time when information is gathered and introduced to the brain. It might be a phrase learned at school or new play design given by the coach. This new information will then be stored on the neural circuits of memory.
● Consolidation – As with what I’ve mentioned earlier, thoughts need to be consolidated in order for the brain to process them and store them deep inside the memory. This process usually takes minutes to hours in order to take effect, and most studies show that consolidation happens at high levels during deep sleep.
● Recall – The process involves the brain using the stored information as needed during exams and/or situations that require people to remember things they have previously learned. It may be an answer to a question or a skill they need in order to get a job done. The better these thoughts are consolidated, the easier it is to recall.
Sleeping, therefore, plays a major role in the completeness of these basic learning processes of the brain. Subsequently, lack of sleep will affect the acquisition and recall phase as it has been proven that sleep deprivation renders a person to lose concentration and comprehension significantly. This even explains the slurred speech given by severely sleep-deprived individuals.
Based on these facts, it is safe to say that sleeping for eight hours regularly will be more beneficial to your memory than cramming in information overnight. Short-term memory maybe useful at times, but you will surely forget it soon enough. For students or professionals who constantly use their memory, these short-term losses could prove to be more costly since they need to learn it all over again when the time comes that this specific memory is needed again.
