Sleep and learning

Many competing theories have been advanced to discover the possible connections between sleep and learning in humans. One theory is that sleep consolidates [ [http://health.msn.com/menshealth/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100119940&GT1=7538 Men's Health - MSN Health & Fitness ] ] and optimizes the layout of memories, though recent evidence suggests this may be restricted to explicit procedural memories [Robertson, E.M., Pascual-Leone, A. and Press, D.Z. (2004). Awareness modifies the skill-learning benefits of sleep. "Current Biology" 14, 208-212.] .

Increased learning

Popular sayings such as "sleep on it" or "consult the pillow" reflect the notion that remolded memories produce new creative associations in the morning, and that often performance improves after a time-interval that included sleep [ [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/21/earlyshow/health/main595026.shtml Sleep On It, Study: Sleep Stimulates Creative Thinking - CBS News ] ] . Many studies demonstrate that a healthy sleep produces a significant learning dependent performance boost [ [http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=brainBriefings_sleepAndLearning Society for Neuroscience | Sleep and Learning ] ] [cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=To understand the big picture, give it time -- and sleep | date=April 20 2007 | publisher= | url =http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-04/bidm-tut042007.php | work =EurekAlert | pages = | accessdate = 2007-04-23 | language = ] . Healthy sleep must include the appropriate sequence and proportion of NREM and REM phases, which play a different role in memory consolidation-optimization process. In motor skill learning, an interval of sleep may be critical for the expression of performance gains; without sleep these gains will be delayed ("Korman et al, 2003"). However, several studies show that, in some conditions, time after training, even without sleep, may suffice for attaining significant performance boosts ("Roth Ari-Even et al, 2005").

A study [Wagner, U., Gais, S., Haider, H., Verleger, R. and Born, J. (2004). Sleep inspires insight. "Nature" 427, 352-355.] has also found that after sleep there is an increased insight, that is, a sudden gain of explicit knowledge. Thus during sleep the representation of new memories are restructured.

leep in relation to school

Sleep has been directly linked to the grades of students. One in four U.S. high school students admit to falling asleep in class at least once a week.cite journal | first = | last = | | title =http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1775003 | year = ] . Consequently, results have shown that those who sleep less do poorly. In the United States sleep deprivation is common with students because almost all schools begin early in the morning and many of these students either choose to stay up awake late into the night or cannot do otherwise due to delayed sleep phase syndrome. As a result, students that should be getting between 8.5 and 9.25 hours of sleep are getting only 7 hours.cite journal | first = | last = | | title = http://sleepdisorders.about.com/cs/sleepdeprivation/a/backtoschool.htm| year = ] Perhaps because of this sleep-deprivation, their grades lower and their concentration is impaired. (Roth Ari-Even et al, 2005). As a result of studies showing the effects of sleep-deprivation on grades, and the different sleep patterns for teenagers, a school in New Zealand, changed its start time to 10:30, in 2006, to allow students to keep to a schedule that allowed more sleep. Similarly a high school in Copenhagen has committed to providing at least one class per year for students who will start at 10 a.m. or later.

Other theories

Other researchers' theories on additional functions of sleep differ significantly. One older idea is the "energy conservation" theory. Others claim that REM sleep is needed to "refresh" the brain after NREM phase, or that REM is needed to prevent stasis of fluids in the eye. (Roth Ari-Even et al, 2005).

ee also

* Dreams
* Preconscious
* Unconscious mind
*
* List of thought processes
* Lucid Dream

References

External links

* [http://www.news.wisc.edu/13733 "Study puts us one step closer to understanding the function of sleep"] - from University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health
* [http://www.nature.com/nsu/010426/010426-15.html "To sleep, perchance to learn"] - from "Nature"
* [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/282/5397/2163 "Birds May Refine Their Songs While Sleeping"] - from "Science"
* [http://europe.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/11/22/sleep.memory.ap/ "Study shows sleep helps improve memory"] - from CNN