The Role of Sleep in the Learning Process

Cutting down on sleep drastically affects our capacity to learn and make decisions. Habitually going to bed late and waking up early makes us less productive and prone to make more mistakes. It has a detrimental effect on our intellectual potential.

People with sleep problems, whether self-induced or due to their environment, tend to be depressive and susceptible to high levels of stress and excitement. Sleep deprivation also contributes to health problems such as high blood pressure and heart disease.

Sleep is essential for learning. Sleep improves recall in learning and retention of facts we learned the previous day. The Independent of London, for example, comments that a good night’s sleep “is a prerequisite to effective recall in subsequent weeks.” Sleep is also crucial in learning new motor skills. Studies in Germany and the United States have shown that while sleep is important for storing memories in the brain, this must occur “within a critical time frame,” states the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. People who were taught a new skill and then tested after a full night’s rest did much better than those who were tested within 12 hours before going to bed. “Thus,” in the words of researcher Dr. Ullrich Wagner, “sleep acts as a creative learning process.”

The Role of Sleep in Health

Scientists have discovered a definite link between the body’s immune system response and deep sleep. American Health reports that tiny proteins known as muramyl peptides associated with deep dream-free sleep “trigger the production of interleukin 1, a key component of the body’s defensive system.” Researcher Dr. James M. Krueger believes that “sleep may play a role in the recuperative process, whether it’s recovery from a day’s activity or a disease.”

Lack of sleep also contributes to obesity. Our brain interprets lack of sleep as a lack of food. During sleep, our organism secretes leptin, the hormone that normally lets our body know we ate enough. When we are awake longer than we should be, less leptin is produced and we feel a craving for more carbohydrates. Sleep deprivation, then, leads to higher intake of carbohydrates, resulting in weight-gain.

It cannot be overstated that sleep contributes to longer lifespan and slows aging. It makes it easier for our body to metabolize free radicals - molecules that affect the aging of our cells and even cause cancer. Additionally, sleep deprivation makes a person more prone to infections and circulatory diseases.

The Effects of Sleep Deprivation

Short-Term Effects
Drowsiness
Sudden mood swings
Loss of short term memory
Loss of decision, creative and motor skills
Loss of problem solving skills
Loss of concentration

Long-Term Effects
Obesity/weight-gain
Premature aging
Exhaustion, fatigue, loss of energy
Increased risk of infections, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and gastrointestinal disease
Chronic memory loss
Depression

It is clear that for improvement to your quality of life, good sleeping habits, and correct attitude toward sleep, must be formed. It is not a one-night solution but a continual process. One night of solid restful sleep is not a license to deprive yourself of it on subsequent nights. Restful sleep must be part of your day in, day out routine. It requires adjustments in our attitude toward sleep and its role in our lives, as well as adjustments in our daily habits.

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Tags: Heart, memory loss, obesity, quality of life, sleep, sleep problems

Almost everyone has at one time or another suffered from insomnia. They may have experienced an inability to sleep or may not have been able to sleep for any length of time. This can leave a person feeling, worn out, irritable, like they haven’t rested and may even cause a lack of concentration or an inability to think clearly. However, in most cases the inability to sleep is short lived and generally only last for a short period of time like a week or two.

There are many causes of insomnia and these causes may vary from person and person. Insomnia is usually a symptom of a much deeper origin like stress, anxiety, medical conditions, pain, depression or other unknown reasons. Many travelers who travel across various time zones frequently suffer jet lag which is a disruption to the circadian clock rhythms, the internal mechanism that tells their body it needs rest. When the circadian clock goes out of sync the traveler may experience a loss of sleep. As well as this short-term anxiety can cause temporary insomnia which can last from anywhere from one night to a several weeks. The more acute insomnia can last anywhere from a few weeks up to six months.

Of all insomnia acute insomnia is the most serious. It can cause sleep loss every night for at least a month. If this is the case it may be necessary to try and determine the underlying cause of the sleep loss so a cure may be sort. Transitory insomnia is usually associated with a stressful life experience or situation, various types of physical pain or an overactive mind.

Is Insomnia Gender Specific?

In America it is estimated that around 60 percent of the population suffers from temporary insomnia. Of these people, up to 40 percent of women and around 30 percent of men have had sleep problems on more than one occasion. Sleep specialist have ruled out the belief that as a person ages their need for sleep is lessoned. They stress that the average person in America needs an average of seven hours of sleep each and every night while most American doctors would recommend seven to ten hours of sleep a night.

Insomnia is often confused with sleep apnea. Sleep apnea causes poor quality sleep through the person having trouble breathing while they sleep. Many people who snore heavily also suffer through poor quality sleep. Sleep apnea causes the person to wake up numerous times through out the night even though the person may not recall being awake. The person suffering sleep apnea usually feels sleepy throughout the day but may not know why. Often a sleep specialist can assist the person get to the bottom of the sleep problem and work out a solution so the person can resume a normal sleep pattern.

There have been reported cases of fatal familial insomnia which causes the person to be unable to sleep at all however these cases are very rare. This type of insomnia usually results in death within a period of about two years from the initial beginning of the problem. At present there is no known cure for this type of insomnia, which can passed down through the generations in a family.

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Tags: anxiety, cialis, sleep, sleep problems

Shift workers perform vital tasks whether their work is in hospitals, in the emergency service, the police force, or in travel, transportation or manufacturing industries. However, in most cases, shift workers do not get enough quality sleep. Often it is difficult for them to remain alert at night, yet just as heard to fall asleep during the day, and the sleep that they do get is less restorative than that of night sleepers.

The human body naturally follows a 24-hour period of wakefulness and sleepiness that is regulated by an internal “circadian” clock. This clock, which we have in common with all other living creatures and plants, is linked to natural’s cycle of light and darkness, and helps to regulate body temperature, hormones, heart rate and other functions. The natural urge to sleep in humans is strongest between midnight and 6 a.m and it is very difficult it to want to sleep at other times.

Bright lights and regular sleep wake cycle can help shift workers to avoid sleep problems and the turmoil they often create. And melatonin, it appears from much research, can play a supplementary role. The word supplementary is important: on its own, melatonin is not remarkably helpful. But as part of a broader program, it provides real benefits.

Using bright light is a key part of this broader program. This can be accomplished in several ways. Bright light in the workplace is one method. Bright light goggles are effective, but often are too cumbersome. The newest research indicates that exposing certain parts of the body specially, behind the knee can also help shift worker. Why this spot is effective is unknown.

Just as exposure to bright light is important during work, limiting bright light is vital at other times. If night shift worker are driving home in the morning, the bright sunlight can play tricks on their bodies. Wearing dark sunglasses can signal the body to stop producing and start releasing melatonin. But if you stay out in the sunlight, this won’t happen and you won’t become sleepy. The melatonin dosage should then be taken 2 to 3 hours before bedtime.

The following tips may help shift workers to set the scene for a more restful and restorative sleep:

Take a warm bath before bedDarken the bathroom Use some sort of “white noise”, such as a fan, to block out other household noises.Avoid caffeine within 5 hours of bedtime Avoid the temptation to drink alcohol after work. It may help you to relax and unwind, but it also interferes with sleep, causing disturbances.Eat a light snack before going to sleep. Don’t go to bed too full or too hungry.If you do nay form of exercise in the workplace, it is extremely important that you do so at least 3 hours before you bedtime since this cause stimulation and raise the body temperature which can interfere with sleep.

Dr.Samantha Hement is the writer of yourinsomniacure.com/blog” target=”_blank Insomnia blog and sign up for the free 5 days Insomnia e-course. Read her informative reports about

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Tags: Heart, sleep, sleep problems

Have you ever wondered why our hearts go to our sweet hearts, we tend to miss them very intensely when it rains, we feel low, even feel like weeping alone on a cloudy day…we sometimes go through sudden mood change with no exact reason behind, we tend to eat more and sleep more and experience depression, lethargy, fatigue, cravings for sweets and starches, headaches, sleep problems and irritability as the temperature drops. The influence of season on human mood and his energy level is undeniable, and time and again the psychologists have studied and documented the facts.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is not only a couple of symptoms related to winter blah; it is mostly associated with day light, that is why SAD is prevalent in high latitude and mid latitude areas. People who live in the Arctic region are more susceptible due to the fact that they are affected by polar nights, prolonged periods of overcast weather also induce SAD, however, It is more serious disorder, sometimes requiring hospitalization when the depression is aggravated and turns into dysthymia or clinical depression. Our biological internal clocks or circadian rhythm goes through a shift as seasons change, and our biological clocks fall out of our daily schedules. January and February are the months when a SAD sufferer suffers the most, young people and women are comparatively more victimized.

The most frequent symptoms are recurring symptoms of depression and excessive eating and sleeping, weight gain during the fall or winter months. The patient would fully cutback from depression in the spring and summer months. SAD symptoms occur in them with no non-seasonal depression episodes and seasonal episodes significantly outnumber non-seasonal depression episodes. The patient craves for sugary and starchy foods during the winter. Possible cause of the disorder, as the researchers and psychologists say, is Melatonin, a sleep-related hormone secreted by the pineal gland in the brain. This hormone is said to cause symptoms of depression, because it is produced at increased levels in the dark. Therefore, when the days are shorter and darker the production of this hormone increases and people are affected.

Apart from antidepressants like Xanax, photo therapy or bright light therapy is proved to suppress the brain’s secretion of melatonin. The use of bright light box at a dose of 10,000 lux for 30-60 minutes per day has given good results. During these minutes the eyes should remain open but should not stare directly to the light. The light box is a bank of white fluorescent lights on a metal reflector and shield with a plastic screen. The light therapy may take several weeks to treat the depression but some patients have shown results within one week. For patients with mild symptoms, spending time in the sun or arranging picnics or outdoors to receive more sunlight may be helpful. A daily walk of an hour in the sunlight during the winter is more effective than two and a half hours of light therapy. When photo therapy does not work, an antidepressant drug proves to be effective in reducing or eliminating SAD symptoms. But before taking an antidepressant, a doctor’s advice is required so that a proper antidepressant medication is taken.

There is no cure for SAD discovered yet; nevertheless, the above mentioned treatments are helpful in managing the winter blues so that one can go though all the seasons in the year comfortably.

The author, Monalisa Hyden, addresses psychological issues. If you wish to help yourself and your loved ones to fight emotional problems, you can log on to buy-xanax-online-now.com buy-xanax-online-now.com for more information and advice.

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Tags: Heart, sleep, sleep problems