Sleep And Slow Wave Sleep Essay

This paper examines five different sources of information that addresses information pertaining to wakeful resting or sleeping and the effects it has on memory garnered by experiments performed on humans and animals. Wakeful resting is defined as an individual that has not fallen asleep but has engaged in a period of rest that cuts them off from the distractions of the outside world. Sleep is the bodies natural cycle of rest that suspends the consciousness and allows both the body and the mind to take a break from any stressful activities and recover. By either taking a short wakeful rest or going to sleep after learning new material, memory consolidation in both humans and animals will be improved, and it is not limited to humans that

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

In order to be a successful student at USMAPS and beyond, a cadet candidate must employ a proper sleep schedule. While the mechanisms of sleep are only partially clear and primarily left to scientific speculation, everyone can agree that the vitality of sleep and circadian rhythms is indisputable. That said, while I go through the academic year, I have developed a plan to maintain my sleep habits and ensure that proper sleep will benefit me throughout my academic endeavors.

During states of arousal and wakefulness, information is encoded in the neocortical and hippocampal networks in the form of memories (Frankland et al., 2005). The networks that are activated during wakefulness are subsequently reactivated during SWS via SWA, which leads to synaptic downscaling and memory consolidation. A study conducted by Peigneux and colleagues (2004) provided evidence that presents a positive association between improvement in post-sleep retrieval activity performance and the amount of hippocampal SWA that an individual experiences during SWS. This study suggests a correlation between the reactivation of wake-active neuronal networks via SWA and memory improvement during SWS. In addition to the overnight evaluation of memory consolidation, short-term evaluation of memory across the first day, which included a 90 minute sleep period between training and performance of the retrieval activity, also demonstrated a positive correlation between the amount of SWA that occurred during the sleep period and the success of the retrieval activity performance (Peigneux et al., 2004). Moreover, a study conducted by Marshall and colleagues (2004), also examined the manipulation of memory consolidation during sleep and found a positive association between hippocampal SWA and the performance of a

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

Therefore, the rapidly developing cognitive functions of infants necessitate even more rapid and consistent sleep cycles to foster their learning. Sleep plays a role in the memory consolidation process when the baby is awake. It has not yet been determined if infants can learn while asleep (Tarullo, Balsam & Fifer, 2011).

When students wake up with an insufficient amount of sleep they can not comprehend amounts of information as well. “Sleep is necessary to consolidate a memory (make it stick) so that it can be recalled in the future (Robinson, 1). Not being able to memorize information learned defeats the purpose of ever learning it. When a majority of the assignments require students to remember info and be able to replicate a lesson for a good grade students need to be able to remember as much as possible. If teens were allowed to sleep in more they would have a greater chance of remembering things for tests, and be able to be more active. Lack of sleep is hurting students abilities to learn and to keep in what they

This week’s article was “Teachers, Students, and Sleep” by Dave Stuart Jr. It discusses the importance of sleep to both teachers and students, and ways to make sure they get the best sleep to succeed each day. According to the article, sleep can be easily thrown off, especially by late night snacking. Also, the article states, “one of the most valuable and overlooked aspects of sleep is an operation called memory processing,” which is a part of REM sleep. The bad thing is, these snack before bed disrupt this REM sleep, making our quality of sleep much worse. Another key role in getting better sleep is regularity, which is “one of the most important factors in how well people sleep.” It has also been proven that sleep impacts performance. As

Sleep, attention, learning, and memory all go hand-in-hand when trying to improve the ability to learn and remember things. First of all, getting adequate sleep is beneficial in many ways. According to the National Sleep Foundation, adequate sleep for people age 18-25 is 7-9 hours per night. Getting enough sleep allows a person to have more energy to do daily tasks such as going to class and learning. The more sleep you get, the more awake and focused you will be during the day. Focusing your attention is also an important aspect of learning and remembering. Attentional focus basically means focusing on the things relevant to the task at hand and suppressing distractions. If you do not get enough sleep, your attentional focus will be decreased

Sleep is one of the unavoidable daily-living activities and it is one of the most important factors contributing to a person’s health. A quality sleep is essential for the physical, cognitive and psychological well-being of a person. Learning, memory processing and maintenance of the brain are among the most important functions of sleep. In addition to maintaining the brain, sleep has important roles in controlling the

Most of this happens in either REM (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep or the SWS (slow wave sleep) stage. In the SWS stage the brain takes the facts a person has leaned that day like definitions or names and stores them as it sees fit. REM is when all you’re “how to do” skills are stored, such as how to spell something or ride a bike. All of these things are things you learn all throughout a typical school day. As I said before you seven memories, 20 to 30 seconds long and a school day is 7 hours long. That’s more than the brain can handle so we need some relaxing time in

Dreams have a lengthy record of being a subject for debate and a source of motivation. In ancient Egypt, pharaohs had several interpreters to decipher their dreams as they believed they were messages from the gods (Lincoln, 1935, p.68). The ancient Hebrews believed that their dreams were tied to divine revelations as well. Native American tribes believed that dreams were a connection to their ancestors and used obtaining a vision from a dream as a rite of passage (Tedlock, 1981, p.324). In the present day, every night all across the world, people still experience sequences of imagery encompassed by sensations and emotions while asleep. The average person tends to dream up to seven times a night

You must have heard about the connection between a good night’s sleep and a healthy productive day, tons of times. Understandably so, because these two things are related to each other like two sides of the same coin, you cannot have one without the other. So the big picture question is simple, how to achieve the perfect sleep every night, so that you wake up every morning, fresh, fit, and raring to go to do everything that you are supposed to do? The answer, is simple, and it is that you need to follow a few important rules to constantly sleep like a baby every night and have a fantastic morning, resulting in an amazing day. So without further ado, let’s take a look at those tips.

 The goal is to avoid, "clocks on collision," and to allow internal clocks to match external clocks, this is why night shifts are often on weekly rotation.