Yes, period.... but, why?
Sleep is vital for plenty of reasons; in this post, we focus on the effects of sleeping on learning and other implications that a lack of sleep can have.
Sleep & Learning
In a podcast with Andrew Huberman, the professor of neuroscience and psychology Matt Walker explained why sleeping is important before and after an intense study session (piano, karate, or judo sessions work likewise).
Before the study session, sleeping helps erase all the fragmented pieces of information that usually roam in our minds, like formatting our USB sticks. (It reminds me of "Scatterfocus")
After the activity, sleeping helps for two reasons:
Memory translocation
Memory replay
Memory translocation is the process that helps us press the save button. It translocates the fresh memories from the short-term to the long-term area of our brain.
On the other hand, memory replay helps to keep the memory vivid. The way our brain implements this mechanism is fascinating. Some experiments have been conducted on rats to confirm the memory replay mechanisms during a task of learning. During these experiments, researchers monitored the signature pattern of learning (a maze, in the specific case study) in the hippocampus brain region during the active learning activity. They discovered that, during sleep, the hippocampus registered the same signature pattern but 10 to 20 times faster! That's how we remember notions...repeating them at 20x speed while sleeping!
Sleep & Performance
Also, physical performance seems to benefit a lot from a fair amount of sleep. Many experiments have been carried out on professionals in various disciplines (mostly basketball and soccer), and it seems that 1 or 2 hours of extra sleep usually make the difference in a match.
Sleep & Children
Children (mostly between 13 and 18) often suffer from a severe lack of sleep. One of the main reasons seems to be the inappropriate school hours. Lessons starting at 8:00 force students (and thus, their parents) to wake up way too early, building up hours and hours of sleep debt during the week. It has been shown many times that postponing the first lesson by only one hour allows students to be less stressed and get better grades.
Also, the majority of crimes among minors take place between 1 pm and 3 pm. The reason (and I never thought about it) is that during this time window, minors are often alone at home (since their parents are still working). Postponing the first lesson would imply postponing the last one, thus narrowing this unsupervised window.
Sleep & Parents
Parents would benefit from these additional few hours of sleep as well. Research showed that the number of car accidents drastically dropped in families whose children started school later. Moreover, specialists (like surgeons) showed a lower probability of making mistakes during high-risk operations.
And you, how's your sleep schedule?!
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