Key Points Summary:

In this video, we begin looking at Sleep and why it's so important in the context of our Exam Success goals. Key points include:

• The 'Student-Life' Triangle is an idea perpetuated at colleges/universities. It consists of three 'points' of a triangle: Studying, Social (Events, Sports, Music, etc.) and Sleep.

  • The joke? You only get to pick 2...

  • Most people choose Studying and Social, and Sleep is the first thing to be sacrificed...

  • But if we prioritise Sleep, not only will our Studying be more effective, but we'll be able to enjoy our social interactions more and perform better at sports, music, etc.

  • It is entirely possible to balance all 3 aspects of the triangle - just because others couldn't be bothered to do it, doesn't mean that we should accept it as our reality!

• Sleep deprivation is one of the WORST things we can do for our Exam Success goals. It causes:

  • Decreased cognitive performance.

  • Reduced mood.

  • Lower attention span.

  • Reduced concentration.

  • Craving more calorie-dense and high-sugar/high-fat foods.

• Even partial sleep deprivation has been shown to reduce our short-term memory.

• Sleep can be directly linked to exam performance:

  • Belgian study conducted on 621 1st-year university students assessed sleep length during the exam period against their exam performance.

  • Students who slept 7 hours per night during the exam period scored an average of 1.7 points higher (on a scale of 20) than their peers who only got 6 hours of sleep.

  • That's a difference of 8.5% on an exam...all for one more hour of sleep!

Key Facts about Sleep, Learning & Memory from studies referenced in the book, Why We Sleep (Matthew Walker):

• Sleep before learning refreshes our ability to initially make new memories. (p109)

• Sleep after learning: Tests were carried out on students who had a 90-minute afternoon nap (while other students in the study were told to browse the internet or play board games) after an intense learning session at noon, and before another intense evening session of learning. (p110/111)

  • Results showed that the non-nap group became progressively worse at learning, although their concentration remained stable.

  • The nap group performed better at concentration and improved their ability to memorise facts - the difference between the two groups at 6pm was a 20% learning advantage for those who slept!

• The more deep NREM sleep (see the next video for more information on the stages of sleep) you get during the night, the more information you remember the next day. (p114)

  • Using MRI scans, found that deep sleep allowed memories to be moved from 'short-term' storage site of memories (the hippocampus) to the 'long-term' storage site (the neocortex).

• The few memories we learn while sleep-deprived are forgotten far more quickly in the days and hours thereafter. (p154)

• Sleep deprivation almost shuts down the hippocampus (the 'short-term' storage site of memories), causing any new information taken in to 'bounce' off it! (p154)

• Study run on 133 undergraduates showed that if you don't sleep the very first night after learning, you lose the chance to consolidate those memories, even if you get lots of 'catch up' sleep on the nights after. (p156)

Activities:

Reflect on the following:

• Prior to watching this video, how much did you think sleep mattered with regards to achieving your study goals? How has this changed?

• Watch the other videos in this section to understand more about why sleep is so important for learning, memory and health, and how you can begin to improve your sleep habits.

Recommended Reading & Videos:

1. Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker

Studies & Articles Referenced:

1. Effects of Sleep-Deprivation on Cognitive Performance:   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2656292/

2. Effects of Sleep on Mood, Risk of Psychological Problems:   http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/need-sleep/whats-in-it-for-you/mood 

3. Belgian Study on University Students:   https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2450423