Sleep: Self-Improvement’s Secret Weapon

Why There’s Zest In Rest

We’ve all been there before.

That feeling of sudden and unrelenting energy that leads us hastily to take action. We want to make drastic improvements — getting fit, getting healthy, getting good at a language — whatever the domain we want to see positive growth in, we throw ourselves into zealously and forget the equally important, lesser-known facet of self-improvement. Sleep.

Train tracks optional. Photo by Kasper Rasmussen (Unsplash)

Sleep is key to our general well-being but also essential when we’re trying to learn a new skill. Given that the average person sleeps 25 years in their lifetime, it would be a waste to think we’re merely doing nothing! The importance of sleep is no revelation and it won’t make tomorrow’s front-page news. That said, a little reminder might go some way to help offset the imbalance a large portion of the adult population has between the time they’re awake and the time they spend in the presence of death’s cousin.

The CDC reported 35% of adults don’t get the prescribed 7 hours a day. I blame Netflix.

If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you’re trying to form some new habits (like going to bed earlier) or you’re in the process of adding a new skill to your arsenal (topiary?). It would be a shame to not get the best out of yourself by not getting enough pillow time.

Once you’ve finished this article, I hope you’ll have decided to put an end to your self-imposed insomnia and become excited by the idea of wearing a nightcap. With a bit of luck, you might even turn off the autoplay feature on that streaming service.

Cats understand the importance of sleep. Photo by Kate Stone Matheson (Unsplash)

You Snooze, You Win!

Sleep plays an important role in memory and learning. It enables your brain to consolidate newly acquired information and help you remember it. When we start to learn a new skill that we’re not familiar with, neurons in our brains become linked and we begin to form new neural thought patterns that are initially very weak.

When you try to play a piece of music, the neural thought patterns created through this new activity will be unfamiliar to you, but through practice, they will strengthen.

As a side note, the more abstract a topic you’re trying to learn is, the more you need to practice it, which is why you can’t learn Quantum Mechanics overnight.

When we sleep, our brains “rehearse” newly acquired thought patterns (the things we’ve been trying to get better when we’re awake) and by “replaying” them, they become more deeply embedded and thus more permanent.

Yeah, Science! Photo by Natasha Connell (Unsplash)

“Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I’m reborn.” — Gandhi

It turns out that when you learn something new and then sleep, new synapses are formed which change the structure of the brain. The really cool thing about this is you wake up a different person! It’s You 2.0! How fantastic is that!

If you’ve ever thought sleep to be a waste of time, think about inhabiting a levelled-up version of yourself each morning! Practice your desired skill during the day and let your unconscious mind do the necessary housekeeping, helping you reinforce the things you want to learn whilst you slumber. You get to give yourself a cognitive promotion every 24 hours and part of the work you put in merely requires you to close your eyes and count sheep. Where do I sign?

Sheets of knowledge. Photo by Alexandra (Unsplash)

Brainwashing

Other than helping us learn and memorize information, sleep is also essential in helping us maintain our overall health. Sleep deprivation is linked to many health complications such as heart problems, diabetes, depression and even death (this last one is quite permanent as I understand it).

By simply being awake, toxins accumulate in our brains (we can’t do anything right!) and sleep enables our brains to activate an automatic cleaning service that helps flush them out! As we slip graciously into a state of unconsciousness, our brain cells shrink allowing fluid to pass through, which helps remove these toxic products. Lack of sleep means you’re functioning at a sub-optimal level if you’re not thinking clearly perhaps you’re not getting enough Zzzs!

Sleepy-clean. Photo by JESHOOTS.COM (Unsplash)

Putting Rest to The Test

Almost 100 years ago, researchers were trying to understand the positive benefits sleep had on memory. In 1924, subjects were taught nonsense syllables and asked to recall what they learnt. Those that got sleep were able to remember more than those who stayed awake.

A more recent 2014 study also found that sleep contributed to the consolidation of memory. 24 participants (none of whom had any experience playing an instrument) were split up into 2 groups and asked to learn to play a piece of piano music. One group played the piece in the evening and then the following morning (after sleep) whereas the other group played the piece in the morning and then again that same evening (without sleep).

The results of the musically-challenged subjects? The group who slept between the two tests performed better. The findings stated that there may be brain activity occurring during sleep that resulted from activity in particular areas of the brain used in practice. Essentially the brain appears to “replay” this activity, helping make it longer-lasting.

After sleep, there was more interaction in those areas of the brain used during practice and this helped consolidate memory.

Looks like science to me. Photo by Ani Kolleshi (Unsplash)

Do you have an unhealthy relationship with sleep? Far too many of us see it as a negligible part of our lives. Instead of listening to ourselves and observing the multiple tells our bodies give us, we postpone, choosing a later bedtime. We tell the night train to wait for us as we entertain ourselves with just one more video. We even do it whilst we’re in bed, choosing to ignore our circadian rhythms and pay the price the next day.

If you’re serious about improving a skill or just not dying, you might want to reconsider the relationship you have with sleep. Don’t treat it as an unwanted guest (although one that only appears at night would be strange) embrace it.

And if you’re still not decided, at least sleep on it.

Thanks,

A friend.

Follow me on Twitter.

Further reading

https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn

https://www.brainfacts.org/thinking-sensing-and-behaving/sleep/2015/the-secret-to-memory-a-good-nights-sleep