Healthy living
Mind matters
Shut-eye boosts memory
Sleep improves the memory and helps the brain sort out the mass of information that is taken in during waking hours, according to researchers at Harvard Medical School.
Professor Stickgold and his team asked volunteers to recall a list of related words. They found that those who had enjoyed a good night's sleep performed significantly better than those who had the spent the same amount of time spent awake. Volunteers forgot around 25 percent more after a waking rest than an equivalent sleep.
"We're not just stabilising memories during sleep," says Stickgold. "We're extracting the meaning."
In a related study, volunteers were shown cards with symbols followed by a weather report. Some symbols were more associated with a particular weather pattern; for example a diamond shape might be followed by rain 70 percent of the time.
Twelve hours later the subjects were asked to predict the weather after being shown the various symbols. After sleeping, weather predictions were 10 percent more accurate than after the same amount of time awake.
"Sleep helps us extract rules from our experiences," says Stickgold, "It's like knowing the difference between dogs and cats, even if it's hard to explain."
Lack of sleep has serious effects on the brain's ability to function. After just one night without sleep, concentration becomes more difficult and our attention span shortens considerably.
The average adult in Britain gets around 6.8 hours sleep per night, two hours less than the ideal, according to the Office for National Statistics. Women get about 15 minutes more sleep than men.
Information on this site is for interest only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. You should consult your own doctor about any specific health concerns.