Need more sleep?- without it you can't retain new information
February 13th 2009 00:45
Signature Tune
Do you stay up all night thinking it will allow you to learn more for that big exam to-morrow.
Think again
We are always trying to convince ourselves that we can do without sleep and there have been many studies to the contrary.
Here's yet another one, finding out some new information.
The sleeping brain has different activity than the awake brain and it is only while the brain is sleeping that the enzymes necessary for new memory formations are active.
These enzymes form the basis of memory function.
No sleep, no enzymes, no memory, easy isn't it?
From: examiner.com Meg Marquardt, Science News Examiner
Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine [UPSM] have shown that sleep is essential to memory formation. So if you stay up all night studying for a big exam, your brain won’t have a chance to truly retain any new information.
Marcos Frank, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, published a truly insightful study in the journal Neuron. Through his experiments, he’s shown that a sleeping brain is much different from a brain that is awake. “We find that the biochemical changes are simply not happening in the neurons of animals that are awake,” Frank says. “And when the animal goes to sleep it's like you’ve thrown a switch, and all of a sudden, everything is turned on that's necessary for making synaptic changes that form the basis of memory formation. It's very striking.” [UPSM]
Frank’s team studied cortical plasticity, which is the rearrangement of neurons in response to new experiences. By watching changes in the cortical plasticity, scientists can literally observe memories being formed. An earlier study by the same group showed that young animals that were allowed to sleep after being subjected to visual cues had a far more drastic rearrangement of the neurons in the visual cortex of their brain than those that were not allowed to sleep. Now Frank’s group has discovered the reason why.
There is an intricate molecular dance that occurs as a result of new stimulation. The main player in memory formation is NMDAR (N-methyl D-aspartate receptor). To excite a neuron into action, NMDAR first receives extracellular signals in the form of glutamate. Once it binds the glutamate, NMDAR opens a calcium ion channel, allowing calcium to flow into the cell and engage enzymes that begin the process of reorganizing neurons.
But this can only occur if the animal is asleep. “To our amazement, we found that these enzymes never really turned on until the animal had a chance to sleep," Frank explains, "As soon as the animal had a chance to sleep, we saw all the machinery of memory start to engage." [UPSM] This study not only shows the importance of sleep, but it also opens an avenue for therapeutics to help attenuate the effects that lack of sleep has on a person.
Marcos Frank, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, published a truly insightful study in the journal Neuron. Through his experiments, he’s shown that a sleeping brain is much different from a brain that is awake. “We find that the biochemical changes are simply not happening in the neurons of animals that are awake,” Frank says. “And when the animal goes to sleep it's like you’ve thrown a switch, and all of a sudden, everything is turned on that's necessary for making synaptic changes that form the basis of memory formation. It's very striking.” [UPSM]
Frank’s team studied cortical plasticity, which is the rearrangement of neurons in response to new experiences. By watching changes in the cortical plasticity, scientists can literally observe memories being formed. An earlier study by the same group showed that young animals that were allowed to sleep after being subjected to visual cues had a far more drastic rearrangement of the neurons in the visual cortex of their brain than those that were not allowed to sleep. Now Frank’s group has discovered the reason why.
There is an intricate molecular dance that occurs as a result of new stimulation. The main player in memory formation is NMDAR (N-methyl D-aspartate receptor). To excite a neuron into action, NMDAR first receives extracellular signals in the form of glutamate. Once it binds the glutamate, NMDAR opens a calcium ion channel, allowing calcium to flow into the cell and engage enzymes that begin the process of reorganizing neurons.
But this can only occur if the animal is asleep. “To our amazement, we found that these enzymes never really turned on until the animal had a chance to sleep," Frank explains, "As soon as the animal had a chance to sleep, we saw all the machinery of memory start to engage." [UPSM] This study not only shows the importance of sleep, but it also opens an avenue for therapeutics to help attenuate the effects that lack of sleep has on a person.
No wonder I like those little zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's so much.
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