Posted on 02/23/2010 8:38:33 AM PST by JoeProBono
If your brain is an email account, sleep—and more specifically, naps—is how you clear out your inbox.
That's the conclusion of a new study that may explain why people spend so many of their sleeping hours in a pre-dreaming state known as stage 2 non-rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep.
For years sleep studies have hinted that shut-eye improves our ability to store and consolidate memories, reinforcing the notion that a good night's sleep—and power naps—is much more conducive to learning than an overnight cram session.
Now scientists may have figured out how, in part, this happens: During sleep, information locked in the short-term storage of the hippocampus—the part of the brain responsible for memories—migrates into the longer-term database of the cortex.
This action not only helps the brain process new information, it also clears out space for the brain to take in new experiences.
That means "it's not just important to sleep after learning, it's critical to sleep before learning," study leader Matthew Walker, of the University of California, Berkeley, said today during a press briefing.
"Sleep prepares the brain like a dry sponge, ready to soak up new information."
Power Naps
In his latest work, presented today at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego, Walker and colleagues asked 39 young adults to perform several tasks related to fact-based learning.
One group was then asked to take a 90-minute nap while the other group stayed awake.
Afterward, both groups engaged in a new round of tasks. The non-nappers performed much worse than the nappers, the researchers found.
Measuring the nappers' electrical activity in the brain revealed that their "cache" cleared during stage 2 non-REM sleep......
You can always be counted on for great pics JPB!
Personally, I love naps! If I’m home for the day, rest assured, I’m taking a nap:)
this is great news! We love naps.
Cute picture of the puppies. Thanks for the post.
LOL!
Haven’t nappy-headed ho’s known this for a long time?
YUP! Hook me up with a bed & I’m there!
THAT is completely perfect!
At the risk of being repetative, the guy in the next cubical over is working on genius level recall right now.
Okay, I’m going there right now. See you.
zzzzz
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