Sleep Boosts Memory

Modern men prefer nowadays to stay awake and study or work extensively rather than have a good and appropriate night's sleep. This is why all the herb and natural remedies for boosting memory are so praised in the XXI century. Because the intake of ginko biloba, ginseng and many others help memory function for a longer period of time and improve concentration.

But all these beneficial effects can be achieved without using herbal or any other kinds of supplements. Try to simply rest and, most important, sleep. This is not only the advice that grandparents or parents give us when we stay up late and work or study. It has been scientifically proved that sleep improves memory and cognitive function. That is why medical experts recommend respecting our sleeping hours.

Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the University of Pennsylvania have recently carried out studies and investigations that led to the conclusions that the most efficient person is the one that has fully rested and reposed. This is because during sleep the mental ability is stimulated and results in better recalling of recently learned declarative memories. The effect also persists later, after new information is achieved.

Declarative memory is the part of the human memory that deals with storing data, facts and events. It is called "declarative" because it is connected with memories that can be put into words, discussed or "declared". Declarative memory relates to knowledge and data learned from textbooks and used when taking a test, for example. It also applies to old data that can be "brought back to mind" or recalled to one's "mind's eye."

The most recent research investigating declarative memory was carried out by a team of experts at Harvard Medical School in Boston. For the study they asked the volunteers to memorize 20 pairs of words. Each pair of words included two randomly chosen nouns, such as "blanket" and "village." After the participants learned what the 20 pairs of words are, some of them slept and some of them did not.

The following day the subjects that received complete sleeping hours proved to score with 13 percents better than the others that did not sleep.

Lead author of the research, Dr. Jeffrey Ellenbogen stated: "The results show that the sleep benefit for memory persists across the subsequent waking day, even when challenged by new information. This shows us that sleep does not just passively protect memories, but rather, plays an active role in memory consolidation."

Also, Dr. Ellenbogen explained that sleep does not bear any other substitute: "You can take a drug to stop hunger pains, but eventually you will need to eat food for vital body functions. The same goes for sleep. Taking a stimulant to stay awake can help with alertness in the short term, but people really need sleep to retain knowledge and function at their best."