Recent experiments have shown that getting adequate sleep improves memory retention and performance. Scientists say that when people master a new skill, such as learning a song on the piano, their performance does not improve until they get around eight hours of sleep.
"Getting enough sleep makes it easier for me to concentrate and play the piano well," junior Amanda Mize said.
A good night's sleep is important for the brain to reinforce what it just learned to be easily recalled later.
An experiment conducted on a group of Harvard students established a connection between performance and adequate sleep. The students were trained to find a target on a screen and press a button if they had seen the target. They practiced and repeated finding the targets on the screen for an hour so that they improved their reaction time.
The researchers found that when the students did the training again, they showed no improvement in speed and did not beat their best times after the training. On the other hand, students who had more than six hours of sleep showed some kind of improvement.
During the first two hours of sleep, the chemical levels in the brain decrease and become very inactive. In the next four hours, new information is transferred from the hippocampus to the cortex of the brain to be reinforced into the memory circuits. The brain then becomes active and replays the new information in the two last hours of sleep.
The research shows that more sleep may improve students' performance. A skill the involves memorization and skilled movements, such as in sports or playing a musical instrument, helps the brain to fully digest new skills and information.
Good, consistent and adequate sleep also helps what is learned to be retained the brain longer. Facts memorized during "all nighters" or while "burning the midnight oil" tend to fade away after a few days. Cutting sleep short during the weekdays and sleeping for 12 hours on the weekends also stops new skills learned from being properly retained by the brain.
Junior Betty Delos Reyes gets five hours of sleep on weekdays and 12 hours on weekends plus a three hour nap on Wednesdays.
"When I don't get enough sleep, I'm dead, and don't do well, especially in pre-calculus in first period," Delos Reyes said.
Student athletes' performance are also affected by the amount of sleep they get. Freshman Melissa Zermeno, who runs cross-country and track, said that adequate sleep helps her to reach her maximum ability.
"I can get going and reach my peak more easily when I get enough sleep," Zermeno said.
Based on the recent study, intelligence and ability may not be as important as getting a good night sleep when it comes to improving new skills and remembering new information. So when that test or game comes up the next day, hit the sack a little earlier.