I'm Still Yawning

The planet Saturn, observed by the Cassini space probe on February 4, 2015.

The incredibly blue waters of a lake near Huaraz, Peru.

The benefits of a good night’s sleep 

It’s 4am, and the big test is in 8 hours. You’ve been studying for days, but you still don’t feel ready. Should you drink another cup of coffee and spend the next few hours cramming? Or should you go to sleep? Shai Marcu defends the latter option, showing how sleep restructures your brain in a way that’s crucial for how our memory works. Did you know that sleep restructures your brain in a way that’s crucial for how your memory works? So, don’t forget to sleep!

Research shows that during sleep our brain’s structure is being altered. Synapses are forming during sleep. Scientists have proven that we are waking each morning with a different brain, cleansed of toxins and full of new connections from the previous day’s learning. All of which just goes to affirm the phrase, “Sleep on it”.

Nineteenth century psychologist, Herman Ebbinghaus, demonstrated that we normally forget 40% of new material with the first twenty minutes, a phenomenon known as the forgetting curve. But this loss can be prevented through memory consolidation, the process by which information is moved from our fleeting short-term memory to our more durable long-term memory, thanks to the hippocampus…and a good night’s sleep!

Animation by Javier Saldeña

1969 Rocketdyne concept art shows the Apollo 11 lunar module ascending from the surface of the Moon.