How Snoozing Makes You Smarter
We ran into an interesting article on the Huffington Post today by Therese Borchard called “Sleep is Sanity“. It got us thinking, “Wow, that’s so simple, succinct, yet a powerful statement.” Borchard highlights how she’s modified her sleep behavior to only allow 8 hours of sleep per day; no more, no less. And, by doing so, she’s remained relatively steady throughout the summer, missing what she calls her, “one mega meltdown” of the summer.
But Borchard doesn’t just institute this sleep policy on her own. She uses ideas a Scientific American article called “Sleep on It: How Snoozing Makes You Smarter.”
The article highlights:
- As we snooze, our brain is busily processing the information we have learned during the day.
- Sleep makes memories stronger, and it even appears to weed out irrelevant details and background information so that only the important pieces remain.
- Our brain also works during slumber to find hidden relations among memories and to solve problems we were working on while awake.
It’s important to note that sleep is highly subjective, but 8 hours seems to be the magic number. I’m sure we all have run into occurrences where we felt energized from just 6 hours, or felt lethargic after a massive 10 hour sleep session. Over time, however, it’s vital to maintain consistency with an 8 hour sleep system to maximize vitality, energy, and as you now know, your mental ability to handle the day.