The Most Important Benefits of Sleep
Many people do not realize the remarkable benefits of sleep for our health and view it as a ‘waste of time’. This could not be further away from the truth as the benefits of sleep are plentiful. All three different stages of sleep; light NREM, deep NREM and REM sleep have different benefits for our brain and body. No one type of sleep is more essential than another. Consequently, losing out on one of these types of sleep will cause brain impairment.
On this page we will cover the benefits of sleep for memory and learning, improving motor skills as well as boosting creativity and problem solving capabilities. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg regarding the benefits of sleep for our health. Getting enough and consistent sleep at night is crucial for maintaining a strong immune system and preventing a wide variety of serious health conditions. These include dementia, depression, diabetes, obesity, infertility, cancer, heart attacks etc. A complete list and in-depth information on each topic can be found on the page focused on The Impact of Inadequate Sleep on Individuals.
Memory and Learning
The Role of Sleep to Prepare Our Brain For Learning New Information and Making New Memories
Research illustrates that sleep significantly improves memory by transferring recently acquired memories to a more long-term storage location in the brain. This frees up our short-term memory stores so that we awake with a refreshed ability for learning and absorbing new information. This process of memory refreshment is associated with the bursts of electrical activity, called sleep spindles. These sleep spindles are obtained during light NREM sleep. The more sleep spindles an individual has at night, the greater their ability to learn new information the next day.
The concentration of NREM sleep spindles is the highest in the late morning hours in between longer periods of REM sleep. Elderly people generate 40 percent less sleep spindles at night compared to younger adults. As a result they have a drastically reduced capacity for learning and memorizing new information. More information how the amount and quality of sleep changes throughout our life can be found on the page focused on The Importance of Sleep Throughout our Lives.
The Role of Sleep to Strengthen Recently Acquired Information and Memories to Prevent Forgetting
Light NREM sleep is important for preparing our brain to learn new information and making new memories. However, studies indicate that deep NREM sleep is more essential for cementing recently acquired memories and information. Deep NREM sleep occurs predominantly in the first half of the night. Not only sleeping at night provides these important memory benefits. Taking a daytime nap as short as twenty minutes can offer a memory preservation advantage. This is the case as long as it contains enough deep NREM sleep.
Creativity and Problem Solving
Sleep also significantly boosts creativity and problem-solving abilities. This is because during REM sleep our brain tests out and builds connections between vast stores of information. Meanwhile, our brain makes the most distant, nonobvious associations. More information on this subject is provided on the page focused on The Benefits of REM Sleep Dreaming.
Motor Skills
The Benefit of Sleep For Improving Motor Skills
It is proven by research that the memory of motor skills is significantly improved by sleep. This is the case for all motor skills, whether you are learning how to play a musical instrument, practicing an athletic sport or learning how to fly a plane.
Individuals who have a full night of sleep, after learning a motor skill, experience a striking 20 percent jump in performance speed. Additionally, they experience a 35 percent improvement in accuracy compared to individuals who did not sleep after practicing. This is because our brain continues to improve motor skill memories in the absence of any further practice. However, this occurs exclusively during a period of sleep after practicing.
They say, “practice makes perfect”. Research has illustrated that in reality it is practice, followed by a night of sleep, that makes perfect.
The Power of Naps For Motor Skill Memory Improvement
Naps provide restorative benefits on perceived energy and reduced muscle fatigue. Additionally, daytime naps can offer significant motor skill memory improvement. This is the case as long as they contain sufficient amount of light NREM sleep spindles. A famous example of a world class athlete who used the power of sleep to boost his performance is Usain Bolt. He would regularly take naps in the hours before breaking world records and winning gold at Olympic finals.
The Importance of Sleep For Professional Athletes
Studies indicate that sleep is of the utmost importance for any professional athlete. This is because sleeping less than six hours a night causes the time to reach physical exhaustion to be reduced by 10 to 30 percent. Additionally, a lack of sleep results in a significant reduction of aerobic output and a decrease in peak and sustained muscle strength. Furthermore, a lack of sleep causes substantial impairments in cardiovascular, metabolic, and respiratory capabilities. Finally, sleep loss reduces the ability of the body to cool itself during physical exertion through sweating. Moreover, sleep is the single most important factor in exercise recovery and reduces the risk of injury considerably.