Memorizing has always been known as a voluntary task such that a person has to make a conscious decision to be able to the exercise effectively.
Little did we know that, during sleep, memory and learning are also enhanced.
People sleep to generally get an optimal functioning during the waking hours.
The functions of sleep should not be underestimated as it is particularly vital to learning and memory.
It seems to be an effortlessthing.
Hence, visualizing how exactly the job is being done may be quite hard, but it is believed that during sleep, neuronal connections are being remodeled.
Connections between nerve cells in the brain are further strengthened.
Several studies have looked into the exact relationship of memory and sleep deprivation.
Results show that certain memory tasks are affected when one is deprived of sleep.
One study involved the administration of cognitive tests to people who lack significant amounts of sleep.
Results showed that performance was poor in both arithmetic andverbal learning tests among those who are sleep deprived than those with enough sleep.
Consistent to this, the brain activity in the prefrontal area was less.
Also apparent is the decrease in activity in the temporal area (language processing area.
) As expected, when problem solving and verbal tasked were simultaneously combined, the performance also suffered.
This just proves that sleep deprivation results to specific effects on particular areas of the brain which results to impairment in specific cognitive functions.
When the effects of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) to cognitive deficits were examined, it showed that EDS, a result of lack of sleep, is actually a risk factor for cognitive deficits and memory impairment.
One popular solution in fighting the group of symptoms following the lack of sleep is caffeine.
While it really is a known stimulant, effective enough to keep one awake, the improvement in cognitive function does not necessarily follow.
The level of recall is in fact lower among sleep deprived subjects who took caffeine.
Memory can either be enhanced or compromised with sleep, depending on the quality of sleep that one has.
It has many types - one can recall many things, faces, sceneries, experiences, procedures, to name a few.
The one that is most compromised during sleep deprivation is the procedural / skill memory - as sleep is more specifically important in the process of consolidation.
Consolidation falls under the 2nd stage of memory processing.
It starts with stabilization where the data is more vulnerable to being lost.
This stage may take about 6 hours.
Memory processing or consolidation is the next step that happens during sleep.
The last stage is the recall phase where the information can be readily accessed and edited.
It is synonymous to the process of saving a data in a computer.
As one encodes pieces of information, although it is already there, there is a danger of losing it, especially if a computer has no auto-recovery function.
Once you click save, it starts processing the information so that it can be saved permanently.
Since it is already saved, one can easily access, retrieve or edit the information if needed.
In most cases, it is during daytime when a lot of information is received and it is during sleep when it is being processed and sorted out.
According to Dr.
Sophie Schwartz, a sleep researcher: "sleep help the brain consolidate learned experiences and harden up weak memories which otherwise might fade in time.
" Across lifespan, memory and learning are integral parts of the lives of people.
All these then signify the need for a good quality sleep so as to help achieve optimum level of functioning.