No Sleep is for the Weak!

No Sleep is for the Weak!

In his talk on December 10, Dr. Schechtman-Dryman discussed his research on sleep and its effect on memory. He found that auditory cues like violin sounds played during learning as well as during sleep can actually aid in memory consolidation. His work agrees with the scientific community’s overall emphasis on the importance of a full night’s sleep and a rejection of unhealthy practices like “all-nighters.” University of California Berkley Neuroscientist Dr. Matthew Walker even wrote a book about the importance of sleep called Why We Sleep.

In his book, Dr. Walker discusses the importance of sleep on both our physical and mental health. Sleep deprivation, in his view, is one of the biggest problems of the modern age. He believes that sleep deprivation may be the cause of some of our country’s biggest ailments like Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, diabetes, and depression. For Alzheimer’s disease, he discusses a study that found that without sufficient sleep amyloid plaques build up over time. The buildup of amyloid plaques actually is one of the causes of memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease. So, if you get too little sleep across your lifetime you are at greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Sleep deprivation has also been the cause of car crashes because of falling asleep at the wheel. It is dangerous short term and long term. “All-nighters” have also been shown to not work. Sleeping well the night before is more important for better performance than cramming the night before.

As Loyola University Chicago enters into finals week, it is important to remember that those long nights with no sleep up studying might be hurting your brain and body more than you can even imagine. Instead, get a good night’s rest.

Works Cited

Cooke, Rachel. “'Sleep Should Be Prescribed': What Those Late Nights Out Could Be Costing You.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 24 Sept. 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/24/why-lack-of-sleep-health-worst-enemy-matthew-walker-why-we-sleep.

Schouten, Daphne I., et al. “State of the Art on Targeted Memory Reactivation: Sleep Your Way to Enhanced Cognition.” Sleep Medicine Reviews, vol. 32, 2017, pp. 123–131., doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2016.04.002.

Walker, Matthew. Why We Sleep the New Science of Sleep and Dreams. Penguin, 2018.