Sleep and Your Memory: The Difference a Good Night’s Sleep Makes

21 May Sleep and Your Memory: The Difference a Good Night’s Sleep Makes

Sleep is a wonderful thing, and not just because it helps us to wake up feeling rested and rejuvenated. It can do wonders for your body and your mind, and plays a critical role in helping you preserve and keep memories. There are several studies that have shown that a good night’s sleep can trigger important physiological changes that lead to better memory. However, you can only get these benefits if you’re getting a restful night of sleep on a great mattress from a place like 2 Brothers Mattress in Utah.

The Sleep Study

A sleep study conducted by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and published in the 2005 issue of the journal Neuroscience explained a little bit more about the precise role that sleep plays in helping people remember things better. Many previous studies have shown the benefits of sleep on memory activities, but this particular study also examined the science behind why sleep is so beneficial.

The evidence from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed which areas of the brain are active during sleep, which has shown how sleep can help our brains to build and store memories. This is part of the reason that infants sleep so much, and adults who are victims of stroke or other medical trauma need additional sleep to recover properly.

How Memories are Formed

Most of us can remember something for a period of time, such as memorizing a list of words or learning how to play a specific song on an instrument. However, once learned these memories won’t stick around for long if they aren’t solidified in our brains. In order to consolidate all the information we learn and remember it for the long-term, our bodies have to make and strengthen connections between brain cells.

That’s where good sleep becomes so important. Having a great sleep environment, including a comfortable mattress from 2 Brothers Mattress in Utah can ensure that you are able to get the proper amount of deep, restful sleep that contributes to memory formation and solidification by shifting memories from your short-term storage to a more effective long-term storage area.

Other Improvements from Good Sleep

Another way that sleep improves our memories is through better motor skill performance. We all know that not getting enough sleep can make us feel slow, reducing our reaction time and making it hard to keep up with daily tasks. During sleep, the area of your brain that controls motor functions—the cerebellum—is far more active if you get a good night’s sleep than if you are operating on limited or no sleep.

Sleep also helps to reduce the activity in the limbic system, where stress and anxiety originate. By sleeping soundly on a comfortable mattress from 2 Brothers Mattress in Utah you can help control your emotions and function better.

Sleep plays a critical role in development for infants, children, teenagers, and even adults. Fortunately it is also something that we can often control. By ensuring that you allocate a proper amount of time to sleep and ensuring that you have a comfortable sleep environment and mattress from 2 Brothers Mattress in Utah, you can improve your own memory.