Below are a few of the best links I’ve come across over the last few months on how sleep affects our memory and brain health. I hope you find them as informative and useful as I did.
Below are the links with article summaries:
When Sleep Suffers, So Does Decisiveness – A recent study, which included 49 U.S. military cadets, looked at how sleep deprivation affected thinking abilities which rely heavily on instantaneous, gut-feeling decisions. They found that even moderate sleep deprivation can cause an immediate loss of these abilities.
Lack of sleep harms brain health – Another great link with respect to the importance of getting adequate sleep for maintaining optimum brain health and fitness.
Why ‘Sleeping on It’ Helps – A recent study concluded that for certain kinds of decisions – those that are complex and where you have some expertise – “sleeping on it” may be more helpful than spending minutes or hours of conscious thought on it. The brain makes good unconscious decisions, when we let it.
Rule #7 Sleep well, think well – Online link to useful information on the importance of sleep with respect to brain health and fitness found in the book “Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School
Sleep & Nap – An excellent post detailing 14 great things we can do to help preserve, protect and enhance our gray matter. Number 5 deals specifically with sleep.
Healthy habits to improve memory – Getting enough sleep one of several healthy habits we can have in order to maintain and improve our memory.
Sleep Now, Remember Later – An excellent article which details how sleep affects our memory. Want a good memory, get enough sleep!
No sleep means no new brain cells – Wow.. A study suggests that missing out on sleep may cause the brain actually to stop producing new cells.
Have a Poor Memory? Then Try Sleeping On It – In humans, one particular study looked at memory recall with and without sleep. The study found that people who slept after learning the information performed best, successfully recalling more words than those who had not had sleep prior to being tested.
So there you have it.. A great excuse to go take a nap!
What puts you at risk for Alzheimer’s disease? How can you prevent this killer? Based on the results of a four-year study of the medical research literature on Alzheimer s prevention, this video shows the key strategies of prevention. Simple, inexpensive, and easy, they work to prevent Alzheimer’s and more!
