Many of us think of sleep as a time when everything shuts down and we’re in downtime, but the reality is it’s anything but. While we sleep, the brain is working overtime to clean itself of the toxic buildup that accumulates during the course of a day.

More importantly, sleep is the time when our brains organize our memories.  During certain stages of sleep the brain replays our memories re-activating the neurons responsible for storage.  This essentially teaches the brain what to remember. It allows the brain time to decide which memories are important and which can be discarded leaving more room for storage.

How It Works

Scientists have learned that in the sleeping brain the hippocampus, and brain regions associated with learning, stay active during sleep.  Previously it was believed that this area of the brain was only active during consciousness.  Says Zust, “These brain structures appear to mediate memory formation independently of the prevailing state of consciousness—unconscious during deep sleep, conscious during wakefulness.”

Sleep may turn out to be the new wave in learning as science proves we have the ability to boost what we learned during the day and make the information stick while we sleep without even being aware of the learning process.  As we move through our day, our various experiences are transformed into memories that spread through networks in the hippocampus.  These activities strengthen the connections between neurons.  Our memories are stored in these changes in synaptic strength.  What’s more, science has figured out that slow wave sleep doesn’t just strengthen these connections, it also inhibits the neurons requires for forgetting information. So, sleep is our new aid for better memory.