Friday, April 27, 2007

A Nap to Remember


Out of all the reports I read on this story, Fox News has the best title, which is above. A Nap To Remember -- Good stuff....

Anyway, having a rough time remembering? Well, put down the ginkgo biloba and go to bed, would ya? Really? Yes, really. This is according to a study that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology meeting next week in Boston.
The researchers -- who included Jeffrey Ellenbogen, MD, a neurologist and fellow in sleep research at Harvard Medical School -- studied 48 healthy adults aged 18 to 30.
The study subjects were split into four groups and they had to remember pairs of words that they just recently memorized. One group was tested at the end of the day. Another group was given the same test the next morning after they slept at home the night before. The group that slept at home had better scores.
"These results provide important insights into how the sleeping brain interacts with memories: It appears to strengthen them," he says. "Perhaps, then, sleep disorders might worsen memory problems seen in dementia."
Clinically, this is interesting in that they are trying to link dementia with sleep disorders. Maybe we have been treating memory loss the wrong way. Or, maybe sleep treatments can be used with current treatments for memory loss. Stay tuned for more developments on this.

Using my own anedotal evidence, I have definitely seen in myself difficulties with memory when I don't feel rested in the morning. Actually, my entire system is out of whack when I don't get enough rest. I know, it's not rocket science to figure that out.

But, getting enough rest, for me, is an ongoing challenge. Of course, late night blogging doesn't help. But, I guess it's better than looking up at the celing for hours on end trying to make myself sleep. What to do -- Hmmmmm..... Have a great weekend!

4 comments:

Midwife with a Knife said...

I know that long periods of sleep deprivation make me feel demented!

Ian said...

I just attended a conference where one of the speakers was Eric Maisel, a creativity coach. He was a big proponent of sleep as part of the creative process. By learning to clear your mind of the "chattering monkeys" before you go to sleep and focusing on "I wonder about" instead of "I worry about" as your final thoughts before slumber, it makes you far more capable of working through problems (for example) in your writing while you sleep. Then you can be incredibly productive when you first awaken.

I've tried it this week, and I've been really impressed with the results. Now I'm going to bed at the same time as my kids, just so I can get up earlier. :)

Ian

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

hmmm, i nap, i forget... wonder how that may be related? just asking...

smiles, bee

ps: no OLD comments please!!! ha ha

NeoNurseChic said...

I think that study went on to say that the group that was allowed to sleep but had periodic interruptions STILL did better on the memory test than the group that stayed up and the group that stayed up and had interruptions... (not sure what that last bit means exactly, but this is as I heard it on KYW news radio!)

I love me some sleep. ;-)