Sleep is not just a passive process to give our physical bodies the rest. Rather it has evinced itself as a potent memory aid.
Each stage of sleep, whether it is light NREM (non-rapid eye movement), deep NREM and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep offer different benefits to the brain at different times of the sleep cycle. We can’t say one type of sleep is more essential than another type. All play its essential role equally, that is why losing out on any of these types of sleep will cause brain impairment.
Numerous functions of the brain are restored by, and depend upon, sleep. Sleep therefore, helps us to learn better.
Before learning, it prepares our brains for making new memories. After learning, it helps us to cement those memories.
Sleep the night before learning – The human’s Hippocampus is a long, finger-shaped structure tucked deep in our brains. It offers a temporary store for information, for accumulating new memories. It has limited storage capacity. How does the brain deal with memory capacity challenge?
Sleep restores the brain’s capacity for learning, making room for new memories. Memory refreshment relates to stage 2 NREM sleep. During this stage, there will be short, powerful bursts of electrical activity in the brain. This is when restoration of our learning ability. These electrical activity occurred in our sleep would enable the shifting of temporary memories from temporary storage to long tern vault , that is the cortex. Hence, free up the temporary memory storage space for the following day!
Sleep the night after learning – Sleep plays the part of memory consolidation. The more NREM deep sleep, the more information we can remember the next day. After sleep, the temporary memories have been moved to neocortex. Neocortex serves the long-term storage site for memories. It is much like how we click “save” button on files in my laptops.
The slow brainwaves of the deep NREM sleep couriers memory packets from a temporary storage hold to a more secure, permanent storage region of cortex.
In summary, sleep modifies the information architecture of the brain at night. It helps you to learn better and memories better!
