Sleep Strengthens Your Memory
In a study done by the American Academy of Neurology, forty-eight people in the ages of 18-30 were divided into four groups, every single group was taught the same 20 pairs of words and were tested on how many words they could recall 12 hours after. The four groups were divided into, no-sleep, no-sleep with interference, sleep and sleep with interference (Interference meaning they were taught a second set of 20 pairs of words after having the first pair be the same as before). The no-sleep groups were taught the words at 9 am and tested on them at 9 pm; the sleep groups were taught the words at 9 pm and were tested at 9 am of the following day after a night of sleep.
The results showed that people without interference who slept after learning the words could remember 12% than the no-sleep group and people with interference who slept could recall 44% more than the people without sleep. This studies show how sleeping strengthens your memory and possibly shows a relationship between sleep disorders and dementia.
This article seems very interesting! However, I want to add a couple NOS Themes to your list. I think you should add the theme Science is Collaborative, since it is obvious that more than one person had to help carry out this experiment. Also, you should add Importance of Repeatability because the summary of the article took a long time to explain how the experiment was done, making it easy to repeat.
ReplyDeleteThis article is very interesting to me as well. Putting this information into a more high school related results, if you stay up all night studying for an exam, you won't retain as much information if you were to get a good nights sleep. Therefore, you need to make sure you prioritize in order to study the needed amount as well as get a good night of sleep.
ReplyDeleteI read a similar article about this and found that this could be due to the activity of your brain while you sleep. Some scientists believe that this activity could reflect a form of memory processing. It also seems that sleep stabilizes performance, e.g. if you practice doing something in the morning, you will lose some of that ability throughout the day, but it will be restored with sleep. I think this article is very relevant to high schoolers, with all the studying we do late at night.
ReplyDeleteThis article was very intriguing for me to read as a someone who should receive more sleep on a regular basis! It is very interesting how the amount of sleep someone gets is related to better memory! I was so absorbed by your article that I found another article "Tireless Research Reveals Secrets of the Sleep Hormone," related to this topic that introduces a "sleep hormone" known as melatonin, that a team from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center has been thoroughly exploring. The study, carried out by a group of scientists in Italy, exposed the key role played by the melatonin receptor in the brain that encourages recuperative sleep. The lead doctor in charge of the research team, Dr. Gabriella Gobbi, states that deep sleep has considerable uplifting effects, in addition to the ability to enhance memory and boost metabolism, it also decreases blood pressure! Melatonin is a crucial hormone produced in the pineal gland that is responsible for regulating sleep and encouraging better memory.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/12/14/tireless_research_reveals_secrets_of_the_sleep_hormone.html
I also read a similar article and have similar thoughts to what Lexi said about high schoolers and their study and sleep habits. I read that students who try to cram and read a lot of information right before they go to bed will most likely not remember the information they studied because their brains were not focused enough, but this seems to be how most high schoolers study. The same goes for when you study right after you sleep in the morning before school because your brain is also not very focused at this time either.
ReplyDeleteFrom experience, I have learned that when I memorize something, like vocab for English the night before and have a good night's sleep, I remembered the words more than when I try to memorize them in the morning or before class. It's interesting to learn that there is a scientific correlation behind sleep and memory. I think you would enjoy reading this article about memory loss in the elderly due to lack of sleep. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/255511.php
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting article! I wonder what the results would be if they repeated the tests with highschool students. I agree with Lauren, that a good nights sleep is more important than staying up all night cramming for a big test yet some highschoolers do stay up too late studying, I know I do. Also, I want to add a NOS to your list, Subject to Debate and Tentative. Because this is the first study to show that sleep helps with memory, other studies can be done to help support it.
ReplyDelete