How to Manage Your Body to Improve Your Mind
All throughout academia and higher education in general, advice can be found on how to learn or how to more effectively absorb the knowledge that is being presented. While there is plenty of information to be found on how to take notes or how to review for a test. There is the equally important but much less talked about impact of the body and mind connection. The impact of having a body that is malnourished or sleep deprived can greatly affect the minds ability to pay attention to, or recall what has been learned.
While there have been numerous studies involving alcohol or drugs and the effects it can have on the body and mind, the intent of this paper will be to focus on a healthy
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The results of their survey showed that long-sleepers (more than 9 hours per night) had a significantly higher GPA compared to short sleepers (less than 7 hours per night)” (Paul, M. Panton, C. & Marzigliano. N. 2008) Also neuroimaging studies have shown that regions of the brain involved in the implementation of a serial reaction time task are reactivated during REM sleep. (Parmeggiani, P.L. Velluti, Ricardo A 2005) Sleeping right after a task was taught meant that the subjects had a higher performance level on that task.
These studies show that the amount of sleep per day is important as well as what kind of effects sleep can have on memory. They do not take into account however the effects of interrupted sleep. Soldiers in a combat zone often have to spend weeks or months with several people in the group needing to be awake at all times. The troops will take turns sleeping, often doing 1 hour up and 1 hour down for most of the night. Although the troops are still getting 6-7 hours of down time it is never all at once. Only a few weeks of this operational tempo could lead to hallucinations or extreme disorientation. This constant fighting and lack of uninterrupted sleep led to a huge rise in psychological casualties during World War Two.
It is important to note that while the body can have a
Memory can also be affected by lack of sleep. Also peoples inability to remember things can be affected.
As a student advances through school, they tend to have much more on their hands such as a job, social life, family, and homework. The demand of time from students’ hectic lives makes it difficult to fit in adequate sleep. The only way to complete everything on their agenda is to sacrifice some of their nightly sleep, thus becoming chronically sleep deprived. Students who are sleep deprived or receive less than the recommended amount of seven hours of sleep daily, are less likely to succeed academically because it slows down cognitive performance and impairs memory, which affects a student’s ability to learn.
There are a few factors that are essential for life such as breathing or eating, but one of the most essential factor is sleep. Even though the amount of sleep people need differs from one individual to another, the fact is that eventually everyone needs to sleep. People know the importance of sleep, but due to the increased workload and the pressure of society people are getting less sleep. As a result, there has been an increase interest on the effects lack of sleep has on the mind especially the memory of a person. Many questions arose about the relationship between sleep and memory due to the fact most high school and college students have become sleep deprived. For example, does more sleep mean higher grades?
An article in Nature Neuroscience from February 2009 describes an experiment which was conducted regarding sleep and its correlation to memory. Memory was impaired after 35 hours of sleep deprivation weekly and constant shallow sleep. Regular sleep benefits memory as newly stored information is easily encoded. Proper sleep is crucial for processing and retaining new information. Those who suffer from sleep deprivation struggle to maintain new information and with comprehension skills. In order for students to maximize their learning capabilities, they need the proper sleep to be mentally prepared for
Considering the restoration model, the concept explains, “Sleep recharges our run-down bodies and allows us to recover from physical and mental fatigue” (187). Considering this, days that I work especially hard in the classroom and in the gym I will follow up with a good night’s rest. In addition, because I am bombarded with information every day, from studying and homework assignments, I will be sure to create my sleep schedule while considering the memory consolidation theory, which states that during sleep the brain begins a gradual process by transferring information into the long-term memory (188). In light of these two reasons, my sleep and circadian rhythm management becomes even more essential. Experiencing this better sleep, my body and mind will refresh and my ability to pay attention and encode material in class will
As a college student, the information David Randall presents is very intriguing due to the fact that most of us are sleep deprived due to late night studying, among other things. It is very evident that Randall relies on statistics to build and progress his argument. He tells us how over time certain statistics have increases and by how much. This opens our eyes and makes us realize that there really is an issue. By providing these sources Randall becomes trustworthy and our doubt of whether this is true or not are put to rest. The author comes into contact with our feels once he brings in true stories to the picture. He informs us of the incidents that have occurred due to sleep deprivation. At this point the issue becomes more than a statistical
The brain has to perform calculations on a day to day basis, and not giving it rest causes to accumulate stress. Besides processing calculations in order to carry out daily tasks, the brain also perceives enormous amounts of information, and needs down time to organize all the information. Usually the consolidating of all the information takes place when a person is sleeping, therefore depriving the brain of sleep will cause incognizant brain function and leave one groggy throughout the next day (Sample, 1). Distinct implications of decrease in brain function is displayed when a person experiences drowsiness throughout the day, which causes truncated memory retention rates and loss of
Sleep is essential for optimal human function. In fact, a lack of sleep can actually affect important cognitive functions, like memory. A 2007 study added to the already substantial evidence that even acute total sleep deprivation impairs attentiveness, working memory, and reaction time in various tasks (Alhola, Polo-Kantola). One such way to further this investigation of the effects of sleep deprivation on memory is through the Memory Interference Test, or MIT. MIT is a program designed by Gaston Pfluegl, Ph.D., and Enrique Lopez, Psy. D., at UCLA to test the memory of students. Along with a memory test, the MIT also anonymously collected the physical states, mental states, and demographics of each student test subject, providing a substantial database through which students can test hypotheses, such as the connection between sleep deprivation and memory. Since the MIT requires short-term memory recall, the hours of sleep a student had before taking the test could have a noticeable effect on his or her performance. An unprecedented study this year found that sleep deprivation may actually even induce false memories, which would certainly impact a student taking the MIT because the test requires the subject to recognize images that have been previously presented to them (Frenda, et al). The hypothesis is that students who slept 8 hours before the test will perform better on the MIT than students who only slept 4 hours. The null hypothesis is that students who had adequate
Sufficient sleep is a biological necessity for the normal functioning of humans, it allows the body to rest and to replenish itself so that it is able to serve its function of living. In addition, mental and physical health depend on the amount of sleep we get. Most adults and students value work and college much more than sleep, this is due to the academic, career, and materialistic demands. Researchers have noted a positive correlation between lack of sleep and decreased physical health, mental health, and academic performance. Sleep consists of two cycles: non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM), which are sleep patterns that alternate throughout the night. Firstly, sleep begins with non-REM sleep lasting about 90 minutes followed by REM sleep lasting 10-30 minutes, then the cycle repeats itself. REM sleep is the most important phase of sleep because the body is internally awake, with waking-like brain activity, yet asleep and externally calm. Thus, an uninterrupted REM phase of sleep is necessary for integrating previously learned material, and giving the individual a feeling of being well rested and refreshed. Many individuals will put sleep off so that more work hours, and school work can be fit into the day in order to get a better outcome such as job promotions or better academic grades, but I believe that sleep deprived people show a low performance in daily tasks due to suffering from mental, and physical health disorders.
Given the thought of Middle Tennessee State University’s final exams are in five weeks makes most if not all students anxious. Procrastination begins, stress rises, and sleep decreases with most students. According to Brown University, “In a 2001 study, only 11% of college students have good quality sleep, and 73% have occasional sleep problems.” This means almost three out of four quarters of college students have sleeping problems such as insomnia. However, sleep is very important to the human body mentally and physically. When sleeping, the human body feel refreshed because the brain is working less and relaxes the muscles. Nevertheless, there will still be sleep deprivation, but it can lead to fatigue, irritability, and memory problems (Bernstein 147). As a college student sleep more, the grade point average, memory, and immunity will increased. The solutions to sleeping more are time management and a nightly routine.
Nowadays the exposition to alcohol consumption is becoming very common among adults and teenagers. Alcoholic addiction is developed in social environment such as living around heavy drinkers, people often are tempted to the taste of alcohol which then becomes an addiction. Either it is a party or a celebration, alcohol is most of the times available; however, there are concerns in society, since the consumption of this drug can bring dangerous consequences. An individual’s health is extremely exposed by alcoholic beverages, since they affect several areas of our brain, liver, heart and several other parts of our bodies. Along with health problems, the cognitive control is potentially affected;
Sleep loss and shifting sleep patterns are known to be widespread across college campuses throughout the United States and the world at large. Yet, while many studies exist relating sleep to performance, a much smaller amount of studies focus on the Through analysis of these sources as they would prove useful when researching and writing upon the idea of sleep and its correlation to academic performance it was found that a paper titled “Sleep-Wake Patterns and Academic Performance in University Students”, which was presented to the European Conference on Educational Research, is overall the most useful source represented to research the topic.
While much research has been conducted regarding sleep deprivation Tatar J, et al. 2006 demonstrates the results of sleep
zzzzzz...are you tired? I know I am...of writing this paper! In fact most of the kids in class are probably tired too. Surprisingly, according to WebMD, about 20% of Americans get less than six hours of sleep on average a night (1).With all the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, it is understandable to push sleep off. Harvard University has conducted extensive research, discovering how sleep affects the brain; “given that a single sleepless night can cause people to be irritable and moody the following day, it is conceivable that chronic insufficient sleep may lead to long term mood disorders” (1). Just one night of not sleeping can put one in a bad mood, much less consistent loss of sleep. But how does lack of sleep affect others around us? Sleepiness and sleep deprivation can be accounted for roughly one million car crashes annually in The United States. (Harvard Medical School 1). It is easy to understand that sleep loss is something that affects a majority of the people living in the U.S. and sleep deprivation is something that not only affects us, but affects those around us. Scientists speculate that during the night various sleep cycles playa role on consolidating memories in the mind (Harvard Medical School 3). So knowing that sleep plays such a critical part in the growth and development of our brain, then why do we put it off in order to finish other tasks? And in doing so, what neurological
To find out how sleep deprivation affects humans, Dement (1960) connected participants of his study to an electroencephalogram in his sleep laboratory. The participant got woken up any time they showed signs of entering REM sleep. I was found that REM sleep deprivation made test participants more aggressive and suffered from poor concentration than the control group. They also tried to enter REM sleep straight after going to sleep. They made 26 attempts to enter REM sleep by the seventh night. It is to conclude that REM sleep is necessary for proper brain functioning as the brain goes into REM rebound, when deprived of