The Importance of Sleep

• Around the world, children get an hour less sleep than they did thirty years ago. The cost: IQ points, emotional well-being, ADHD, and obesity. Causes include over scheduling of activities, burdensome homework, lax bedtimes, television and cell phones in the bedroom, home from work after dark parents who want time with their children and don’t want to be the hardass who orders them to bed.
• During sleep, the brain shifts what it learned that day to more efficient storage regions of the brain. The brain does synthesize some memories during the day, but they’re enhanced and concentrated during the night. New inferences and associations are drawn, leading to insights the next day.Sleep deprivation hits the part of the brain harder that is responsible for processing positive or neutral memories. The result is that sleep-deprived people fail to recall pleasant memories, yet recall gloomy memories just fine.

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