Sleep plays a vital role in your academic performance. After a good night’s sleep, you will feel sharp and alert when learning new things. You will also recall what you learnt for a longer period of time and ultimately be able to remember it.
Research conducted last year by the Dutch Foundation for Sleep-Wake Research among 1,400 students demonstrated that:
Students who indicated they felt well-rested scored up to one point higher than their fellow students who did not feel refreshed in the morning.
Doctor Lucia Talamini of the University of Amsterdam conducts research into the effects of sleep on our memory.
Study: A group of Dutch people was asked to learn 120 Danish words during the day. These words were repeated to them at night while they were asleep. In one half of the group, this was done during the so-called “slow oscillation up-states”. This is just another difficult word for a stage of sleep, which scientists suspect specifically contributes to remembering the knowledge you acquired. In the other half of the group, the Danish words were also repeated, but not during this stage of sleep.
Result: There is evidence that the “slow oscillation up-state” stage of sleep effectively contributes to the memorisation of new knowledge. In short, any new knowledge you learnt can only be properly memorised if you sleep well.
While it is difficult to mimic this situation at home, Lucia has a few tips to ensure you can better retain what you are studying.