As we sleep, speedy brain waves boost our ability to learn. Scientists have long puzzled over the many hours we spend in light, dreamless slumber.
But a new study from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests we're busy recharging our brain's learning capacity during this traditionally undervalued phase of sleep, which can take up half the night. UC Berkeley researchers have found compelling evidence that bursts of brain waves known as "sleep spindles" may be networking between key regions of the brain to clear a path to learning. These electrical impulses help to shift fact-based memories from the brain's hippocampus -- which has limited storage space -- to the prefrontal cortex's "hard drive," thus freeing up the hippocampus to take in fresh data. Stages of Sleep. Usually sleepers pass through five stages: 1, 2, 3, 4 and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.
These stages progress cyclically from 1 through REM then begin again with stage 1. A complete sleep cycle takes an average of 90 to 110 minutes. The first sleep cycles each night have relatively short REM sleeps and long periods of deep sleep but later in the night, REM periods lengthen and deep sleep time decreases. Stage 1 is light sleep where you drift in and out of sleep and can be awakened easily. In this stage, the eyes move slowly and muscle activity slows. In stage 2, eye movement stops and brain waves become slower with only an occasional burst of rapid brain waves.
Slow wave sleep comes mostly in the first half of the night, REM in the second half. Understanding Sleep: Deep Sleep, REM Sleep, Cycles, Stages, and. The power of sleep.
How to nap. Study: naps > coffee, good night's sleep to combat tired. You probably know how it goes.
You've just had lunch and you're back at your desk. 3pm rolls around and home time is still some way off. Then the yawns start and all you can think about is curling up under your desk for a sleep. It's a fairly normal response, and the subject of an abstract at Sleep 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. A group of scientists from Loughborough University in the UK presented their work on daytime sleepiness, and whether the best way to combat it was to get up later in the morning, caffeine, or a 20-minute afternoon nap. The study involved 20 healthy adult volunteers, who all averaged around 7.4 hours sleep a night. Scientific American: Naps Improve Memory of New Tasks. If you feel the urge to lay your head down on the desk for an afternoon nap, here’s something to tell your boss: a 90 minute snooze will actually help you remember that new task you just learned.
Researchers at the University of Haifa published the results of their nap study in the journal Nature Neuroscience. They tested two groups—each was asked to learn to bring their thumb and finger together in a specific sequence. One took a 90-minute nap afterwards, the other didn’t. The group that slept had learned the sequence better by nightfall. By morning the two groups had evened out, but researchers say the nappers improved more rapidly the next day. Then the scientists took another two groups. 02.22.2010 - An afternoon nap markedly boosts the brain’s learning capacity. If you see a student dozing in the library or a co-worker catching 40 winks in her cubicle, don’t roll your eyes.
New research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that an hour’s nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter. Students who napped (green column) did markedly better in memorizing tests than their no-nap counterparts.
How to Become an Early Riser. It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom. – Aristotle Are morning people born or made?
In my case it was definitely made. In my early 20s, I rarely went to bed before midnight, and I’d almost always sleep in late. I usually didn’t start hitting my stride each day until late afternoon. But after a while I couldn’t ignore the high correlation between success and rising early, even in my own life. . … and the next morning, I got up just before noon. Hmmm… I tried again many more times, each time not getting very far with it.
It’s hard to become an early riser using the wrong strategy. The most common wrong strategy is this: You assume that if you’re going to get up earlier, you’d better go to bed earlier. It seems there are two main schools of thought about sleep patterns. Become a morning person. How to end insomnia for $520.99. 6-7% of adults report delayed sleep phase syndrome and 17% of university students have symptoms that qualify (from a recent study).
My sense is that entrepreneurs, through both cause and correlation, have significantly higher rates of insomnia than the general population. I'll talk a lot more about this relationship in a future post, but the anecdotal evidence of morning-hating entrepreneurs is not difficult to find. If you're like me, you've tried lots of different methods. Good sleep, good learning, good life. Foreword It is everyone's dream to wake up fresh, happy, and ready for action on a daily basis.
Sadly, in the modern world, only a small minority lives that dream. Yet the dream is within reach for most healthy people given: a bit of knowledge, and a readiness to make some lifestyle sacrifice. I hope that this article compiles all the basic ingredients of knowledge that are helpful in accomplishing refreshing sleep. This article was originally written a decade ago. How to Sleep More Effectively, Starting Tonight at Personal Development with Ririan Project. “There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.” - Homer Tired after getting a full nine hours and still feeling exhausted?
Polyphasic Sleep: Facts and Myths. Contents The law of accelerating returns We live in the times of accelerating acceleration. The Moore's Law makes the world smaller, faster, more connected and more efficient. We are now able to touch and feel Kurzweil's generalization: the law of accelerating returns . The fast-living young generation is hungry for more. Really? - The Claim - Cold Temperatures Improve Sleep - Question. The Surprising Toll of Sleep Deprivation. One Night Of Sleep Not Enough To Make Up Deficit. One Night Of Sleep Not Enough To Make Up Deficit 10 hours of sleep isn't enough to recharge your brain after 5 days of sleep deficit. DARIEN, Ill. – A study in the Aug. 1 issue of the journal Sleep suggests that a dose of extra sleep on the weekend may be good medicine for adults who repeatedly stay up too late or wake up too early during the workweek. However, even a night of 10 hours in bed may not be enough to cure the negative effects of chronic sleep restriction.
Clocks & Rhythms with Clifford Saper interviewed by Jan Witkowski. Findings Suggest That A Biphasic Sleep Schedule Not Only Refresh. An Active, Purposeful Machine That Comes Out at Night to Play. Sleep: The secret to a sound sleep lies inside the brain, researchers find - latimes.com. I am frequently amazed by my husband's ability to sleep through all kinds of noises that cause me to wake in a flash -- car alarms, smoke detectors that are running low on batteries, and especially kids who have lost track of their favorite blankie in the middle of the night.
Thanks to a new study being published in Tuesday's edition of the journal Current Biology, I now know that his brain probably produces more sleep spindles than mine. You see, while we're sleeping, the thalamus -- the part of the brain that receives sensory input like sounds -- tries to relay information to the cortex, where the sounds are actually perceived.