Sleep is something we all acknowledge we need and want more of, however it quickly becomes a basic necessity that we consistently deprive ourselves of. From the outside, it seems like the easiest healthy habit to cut out without any dangerous repercussions. After all, we’ve all heard the claim that some actually function better on an average of five to six hours of sleep per night, or that a little caffeine will quickly resolve any negative side effects felt from a sleepless night. I admit that as I have delved into college and its exciting nightlife I have become one of these self-proclaimed “night owls.” I would much rather stay up into the small hours of the morning to finish an assignment or go out with friends than get a healthy amount of sleep. However, after doing a little research to find out why getting that shut-eye is really as vital as we make it out to be, I found that sleep has many cognitive benefits that impact every aspect of our daily lives: and that this cognitive supercharge can only come from sleep itself.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, the average young adult (18-25 years) needs about seven to nine hours of sleep every night. Why this exact amount? Every age division has a bit of a different length of recommended sleep, because every age places different developmental demands on the brain, effectively lengthening or shortening the time you need to rest and reset. Sleep is more than just a time for the body to rest and recuperate for the next day. Your brain uses the time you are asleep to process, store and communicate with other areas of the brain to analyze everything you experienced throughout the day.
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In a study conducted by Jeffery M. Ellenbogen, a doctor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, one group was trained on a cognitive test in the morning and tested on the task 12 hours later. Similarly, another group was trained at night, allowed to sleep, and were tested 12 hours later. The sleep group showed “significantly greater improvement in performance, from training to testing, when compared with the wake controls. This experimental paradigm has been successfully employed to show the benefit of sleep for several forms of neural processing, including insight formation, novel-language perception,visual discrimination, and motor skills” (Jeffery M. Ellenbogen, 2005). Overall, the sleep group showed better retention and engagement in the task.
In addition, the study analyzed the idea that sleep benefits memory, particularly through hippocampal-neocortical dialogue. “This hypothetical model asserts that, in wakefulness, information is encoded in the hippocampus. During the subsequent slow wave sleep, the encoded memory trace is replayed by the hippocampus; the movement of information between the neocortex and hippocampus then repeats over each sleep cycle. This reiterative process is thought to facilitate consolidation of memory traces” (Jeffery M. Ellenbogen, 2005). Different areas of the brain use sleep to essentially mull over all the stimuli it received in conjunction with one another. This aids in retention, performance, and recall in the future. (You can view this study further here).
This study is particularly pertinent for those in the healthcare field, who are often denied sleep in favor of long work shifts. Interns working at a hospital made 35.9 percent more serious medical errors when they worked a shift that lasted 24 hours or more compared with a schedule that eliminated extended shifts and reduced their hours per week. As a student training to be a nurse and taking care of patients in clinical every week, this data was especially eye opening. Not only does sleep help you perform better in everyday tasks at school and work, it can be the difference between quality care and a life-threatening mistake to a patient.
So next time you're thinking about pulling an all-nighter or skipping that extra hour of sleep to watch a movie, remember that your brain needs rest! You need to set aside an opportunity for some "me time" with your hippocampus and neocortex. As you ensure adequate sleep, you'll feel better, focus more, be more attentive, and who knows? You may even save a life.
