William Atkins
Tuesday, 15 July 2008 19:30
Science -
Health
Page 1 of 3
Two unique studies, one from Australia and the other from Switzerland, have researched how the brain works while sleeping and awake. The conclusions are: get a good night’s sleep and be mentally active while awake, and you'll reduce the risk of memory diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Sleep and memory
In the first study Swiss researchers discover that memory is improved when getting the proper amount of sleep. The study tested the memory of a group of volunteers. They were taught a new skill or shown images that they were later asked to remember.
One sub-group of the volunteers slept for eight hours, while the other sub-group was only allowed to nap over this same eight-hour period.
The next day, they were asked to repeat the new skill or recall the images. The researchers measured the brain’s ability to remember the new skill or images with the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Led scientist in the study,
Sophie Schwartz, from the University of Geneva, stated:
"Our results revealed that a period of sleep following a new experience can consolidate and improve subsequent effects of learning from the experience. This improvement comes from changes in brain activity in specific regions that code for relevant features of the learned material." UK Press: “
Sleep your way to a better memory”
Schwartz says that a good night's sleep seems to help reinforce the connections between the nerve cells in the brain that are involved in learning and memory.
The conclusions of the research study was presented at the Forum of European Neuroscience (
FENS 2008) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, which was held from July 12 to 16, 2008.
The second study involves memory while one is awake. Please read on.
