It’s been widely known that sleep plays a vital role in mental processes. A good night’s sleep will obviously make you sharper, more refreshed and alert. If you or your partner snores, the interruptions this causes can lead to problems, lapses and concentration and so on. But did you know that sleep is vital in the formation of memory, especially in the young?

Here’s a quote from Rebecca C. Spencer, who is professor of psychology at Amherst’s University of Massachusetts; “When you sleep, the brain replays the ‘movie’ from your day…we believe this is how sleep improves memory. As we grow old, that movie…(is) interrupted more frequently.” This difference means that in the young, the benefits of getting a decent night’s sleep can be enormous.

What do these interruptions mean? It means that we are less able to retain information learned, less able to form decent long-term memories from new experiences.  This has been understood for a while, but research led by professor Spencer is starting to suggest that even shifts from one type of sleep to another can cause a problem.

What’s this got to do with snoring? Well, it’s been noted that disturbances, such as external noise, can trigger your defence mechanisms, shifting you out of one sleep stage to another, and towards, but not necessarily all the way to consciousness. In other words, if your partner is a heavy snorer, then you may be being deprived of this vital ‘replay’ of the day’s events by their snoring, even without being woken up fully.

Just another reason to get them to sort it out? You bet!

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

The Effects Of Sleep On Memory Formation