Sleep and Memory Are Related

Sleep and Memory Are Related


You have probably heard that sleep and memory are interconnected. It's true. Many studies have shown that not getting enough quality rest can directly hurt your memory.

I have certainly noticed this in my own life. Whenever I have a poor night due to stress, allergies, back pain, or other reasons, my mind almost always feels foggier the next day.





At night, your brain organizes what you learned during the day. As a memory study in the November 2006 issue of the journal Nature said, "... sleep contributes to the long-term consolidation of new memories."

According to another study, getting too few hours hurts memorization ability as much as no sleep at all! So to strengthen your memory, it is vital to get enough quality sleep each night.

A poor night's sleep hurts your memory in two big ways:

1. Being sleepy hurts your concentration. When you can't focus on things clearly, you can't remember well.
2. Sleeping poorly means the things you learned the previous day are not fully recorded in the memory parts of your brain.

According to Howard Nusbaum, a sleep researcher at the University of Chicago, a good night's rest not only helps retention but can even help you recall thoughts forgotten during the day. As he says in Psychology Today magazine,

Sleep might strengthen relevant associations and weaken irrelevant associations, improving access to memories.

Sleep and Memory: Getting More Sleep

Here are some ideas for finding more time for sleep. Sleep experts believe that most people need seven to eight hours of sleep a night to be fully rested.

See if you can get closer to the mark by trying some of these suggestions.

• Log your sleep hours.If your schedule varies a lot, you may not actually know how much sleep you are getting. In a journal or notebook, each morning write down the number of hours of sleep you got the night before. (If you wake up for a midnight snack, for example, subtract that time.) At the end of the week, average the daily sleep hours to see how much sleep you are getting in an average night. That will give you some indication of how sleep deficient you really are.

• Kick the late-night TV habit. In my view, TV-watching can be almost like an addiction for some people. They have to see their shows or else. But you have to decide which is more important - seeing all those episodes, or getting your brain in top shape for the next day.

• Go easy on the late-night video games. Many students these days stay up too late just to play their favorite games. You have to be the judge on how much is reasonable, though. Don't overdo it - you'll pay the price the next day. If you have to play games at night, at least make them low-key, relaxing games. (Several are available for free right on this website.)

• Take naps. Naps aren't just for kids anymore. If you are lucky enough to have 20 minutes of free time in the afternoon, consider taking a nap to supplement the sleep you may be missing at night.

• Cut back on hobbies. This is an individual choice, but be realistic - if your hobby is keeping you up too late at night, find ways of cutting back.

If you have other suggestions on sleep and memory, in particular on finding more time for sleep, send me a message through the Contact Me link at left and I'll post them on this page.

Even more sleep and memory tips:

• Improve the quality of your sleep by getting better sleep

• Sleep memory research shows lack of sleep can hurt memory