Sleep Now For Sharper Memory
Noticed any difference in your kids’ grades if they sleep late? Teens that miss out on a full night’s sleep during the school week will most likely have degraded school performance due to low energy, poor memory, and will most likely gain weight. This is according to a study led by Professor Olds (University of South Australia) of more than 4000 children. You should be concerned because Adults are no different.
Experts agree that brain development is continuous but is only impeded or degraded by physical limitations, human evolution and sleep deprivation. According to them, your brain is like a muscle. Sleep plays a key role in its development. If Bodybuilders build lean muscle mass by working their bodies hard, followed by a period of restorative rest; the same is true for the brain. As muscles require periods of rest, so does your brain need some time off to process events and unwind. Neuroscientists now believe sleep is not only crucial to brain development, but is also necessary to help consolidate the effects of waking experience – by converting memory into more permanent and/or enhanced forms.
So what happens if we are sleep deprived?
Neurologists believe that as we grow older, our brain activity and memory retention slows down over time. By depriving sleep, we speed up this process. Adequate sleep is crucial to proper brain function – no less so than air, water, and food. Any amount of sleep deprivation will diminish mental performance, cautions Mark Mahowald, a professor of neurology at the University of Minnesota Medical School. “One complete night of sleep deprivation is as impairing in simulated driving tests as a legally intoxicating blood-alcohol level.” Brain Tissue repairs and organ functions are slowed down when we don’t get enough sleep. When repairs are slowed, the cells itself may die. Since most of our memory processes are entirely dependent on these cells for storage, those who are sleep deprived will experience degraded memory.
Sleeping is also needed to restore body en energy and vigor.
If we don’t get enough rest, the brain doesn’t get enough energy to either store information or process it. In addition, sleeping problems are almost always involved in mental disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, as well as head injury. Although sleep deprivation does not directly cause those mentioned, experts agree that not getting enough sleep increases the likelihood. Previous work by Dr. Van Cauter, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, found that “metabolic and endocrine changes resulting from a significant sleep debt mimic many of the hallmarks of aging. We suspect that chronic sleep loss may not only hasten the onset but could also increase the severity of age-related ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and memory loss.”
So, if ever you’re thinking of till-dawn-night out, ditch it and sleep!
Worried about getting fired from your job? The best thing you can do to make sure you stay sharp and increase your chances of keeping your job is to make getting enough sleep a top priority.
Not feeling sleepy? Exercise about 5 to 6 hours before going to bed. Daily exercise often helps people sleep. Lastly, eat right at the right time. Avoid drinks that contain caffeine, which acts as a stimulant and keeps people awake while Alcohol robs people of deep sleep. Self – discipline is the key for proper and balanced diet.
