Sleep and Learning

  I work with students who often do not go to bed till 3, 4, or perhaps never made it to bed the night before.  They arrive yawning and by lunch, they've placed their heads on the table and are sound asleep.

I've seen students so tired, they slept through the bells ringing and the changing of classes.  Why does this happen?  Lots of reasons from alcohol, to fighting, to no one making sure they have gone to bed.

I'm sure many of you have the same happening at your school.  The students assure me they don't need much sleep but I know a lack of sleep can interfere significantly with learning.  There are two areas in which a lack of sleep can be detrimental to learning.  First, it can make it difficult for a person to focus on the material and learn it effectively.  Second, sleep gives the brain time to process information.

The lack of sleep can leave your brain feeling foggy, messes with your judgement, and it interferes ith your fine motor skills.  In addition, it can put you at risk for certain health issues such as diabetes, obesity, and other diseases.

As for your memory, scientists believe sleep is needed so the brain has time to consolidate information.  It is believed that the hippocampus and neocortex are the actual parts of the brain involved in the process.  While you sleep the hippocampus relays the events of the day (including what you've learned) to the neocortex where these memories are reviewed and processed and stored as long term memories.

In addition, it appears that some memories become more stable during REM (Rapid Eye Movement), while other memories become more secure during deep sleep.  Sleep allows your brain to sort through memories to determine the important ones and strengthens information.

Apparently when you sleep, your brain cells shrink some to allow fluid to flow around and between the cells.  The fluid washes out toxins and cleans it up so you can think better. Furthermore when you get enough sleep your ability to tackle harder problems and understand problems increase.

One reason it is good to go over material before you take a nap or go to sleep for the night increases your chances of dreaming about it.  When you dream about the material, it helps you understand the material better and remember it better.

So anytime you have a teen who tells you they do well on 3 or 4 hours a sleep each night, let them know how more sleep will help them in school.

Thoughts on Ways to Review The Material.

  We all know most students prefer to wait till the last moment to cram and hope they remember it long enough to pass the test.  I've heard stories of students who stayed up all night and then were so tired they filled an entire blue book with a single word yet were convinced when they walked out, they had written the best essay ever. Until they got it back with a big red F scrawled across the front of the book.

A few years ago, I took a summer course which promoted the idea of introducing the material a few days before it was taught and continue exposing children to the material after.  The idea is to expose students to the material everyday over a 21 day period so they retained it better.

Recently, a new idea has emerged where rather than concentrating on one skill, one should study several related skills together so as to mix the skills up.  This is shown to improve retention and understanding.  Now, a new study shows if a person breaks up two study sessions with sleep, it can create long lasting and effective learning.

The study selected 40 adults to either work on learning certain Swahili words.  The group who studied at night, slept, and studied the next morning did much better in three ways.  They had better retention, relearned words faster, and retained the information better than those who studied during in the morning and again at night.

This seems to support something I heard years ago.  I was told that if you read the material each evening a little while before going to bed, you are more likely to retain it and this new study seems to give credence to that idea.

Remember, sleep is important in memory formation so perhaps our brain is working on memorizing the material while we sleep.   There are three stages to learning material.  First is the acquisition where we are introduced to new material while the second stage is consolidation or the time when the memory becomes stable.  Finally is recall where the brain is able to access material stored in the brain. 

It appears that sleep helps the brain consolidate memories by creating stronger neural connections that form our memories.  Consolidation is the only step which occurs during sleep.  The other two only happen when the person is awake.

This may be why sleeping between two study sessions improves learning.  I'd love to hear what you think.  Thanks to Josh Fisher for arousing my curiosity to find out more.