Brain, learning and sleep deprivation

During my research on the brain and learning, I found two great articles on how sleep deprivation affects the brain’s ability to retain information.  As adults, we understand the value of sleep for our children, but often do not follow the same rules for ourselves.  As adult learners, we should be aware of how sleep deprivation affects our ability to retain information.

As noted by Yasmin Anwar (2010) “New research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that an hour’s nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power.”  In tests conducted at the university, adult testers were placed into two categories: nap and no-nap.  The testers were subjected to “…a rigorous learning task intended to tax the hippocampus…” (Anwar, 2010), which is “…intimately involved in attention and learning…” (Ormrod, Schunk, & Gredler, 2009) as we learned from reading about the brain this week.  Those individuals in the nap group took a 90-minute nap in the afternoon, while the non-nap group stayed awake.  Later in the day, both groups were tested again and those who napped, not only did better than the group who did not nap, but actually showed improvement in their capacity to learn (see Figure 1 below).



 

Figure 1 - Students who napped (green column) did markedly better in memorizing tests than their no-nap counterparts. (Courtesy of Matthew Walker) (Anwar, 2010)



The UC Berkley study showed that sleep is needed to clear short-term memory and actually compared the results to a Email inbox that can no longer receive Email until it is cleared (Anwar, 2010).

In another study by the Washington University School of Medicine (2009), scientists studied fruit flies to show the affects of sleep deprivation and how sleep may be the key to removing unused synapses in order to make room for new synapses, which is “…one key way the brain encodes memories and learning…” (2009). While science has recognized the need for sleep in the learning process, the scientists in the study also “…revealed that learning increases the need for sleep in the fruit fly.” 

From studies like these, I think we can conclude that as adult learners working towards a degree, we should be more aware of how sleep and sleep deprivation can directly affect our ability to absorb and process new information!

References

Anwar, Y. (2010, February 22) An afternoon nap markedly boosts the brain’s learning capacity. UC Berkeley Newscenter.  Retrieved from http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2010/02/22/naps_boost_learning_capacity/

Ormrod, J., Schunk, D., & Gredler, M. (2009). Learning theories and instruction (Laureate custom edition). New York: Pearson

Washington University School of Medicine (2009, April 3). Sleep May Help Clear Brain For New Learning. ScienceDaily. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090402143503.htm