| Okay, there's a story behind the title. It's | | | | student often is better able to understand |
| a running joke between my wife and myself. A | | | | and retain it. |
| few months ago, I made a crack about how her | | | | |
| hair looked one morning. Something about | | | | Many scientists and leaders in business and |
| Elvis. I didn't get out of the doghouse for | | | | politics have used and praised the technique. |
| a week. Fortunately, she has a sense of | | | | One of the more famous examples is that of |
| humor, even if it's a little slow sometimes. | | | | Friedrich August Kekule, who described a |
| | | | major break through in the structure of |
| I usually get up an hour or two before she | | | | molecules coming to him as he dozed. Some |
| does, and one morning a few weeks after that | | | | studies have even shown the ability of an |
| faux pas, she came out with her hair in wild | | | | athelete to "practice" and improve his or her |
| disarray (as usual). She looked sleepily at | | | | technique while asleep. Such problem solving |
| me and said, "I looked in the mirror....God's | | | | and nocturnal improvement in both physical |
| been arranging my hair again while I sleep." | | | | and mental areas is often ascribed to your |
| | | | brain's attempt to "make sense" of everything |
| Since then, we often greet each other with | | | | it has encountered during its waking periods. |
| some remark about the new hairdo God arranged | | | | Very often, this attempt to "make sense" |
| overnight. | | | | manifests itself as a dream. |
| | | | |
| Silly little joke, but it got me to thinking. | | | | In April, 2004, psychologists at the Western |
| | | | Psychological Association's 84th Annual |
| So often, I will go to bed, puzzling over | | | | Convention in Phoenix dedicated several |
| some problem. I might be working on an | | | | sessions to discussing sleep, its effects on |
| article, or even worse, be completely unable | | | | health and impact on social policy. Experts |
| to come up with one. I might be worried | | | | representing such institutions as Scripps |
| about the bills, or the kids (even though | | | | Mercy Sleep Disorders Center, the University |
| they're grown and gone), or retirement (which | | | | of Arizona, and the Stanford Sleep Disorders |
| I'm halfway into anyway). I'm lost or | | | | Clinic discussed many benefits of sleep, |
| bewildered when I go to bed, but when I wake | | | | including its affect on health and memory. |
| up in the morning (and have that first cup of | | | | One piece of information presented was that |
| coffee), I have a handle on what to do. No | | | | during sleep, information is often stored in |
| matter how things were when I went to bed, I | | | | long-term memory. During sleep, your brain |
| have a different, and usually better, take on | | | | is at work replenishing neurotransmitters |
| it when I wake up. | | | | that organize neural networks essential to |
| | | | remembering, learning, performance and |
| Now, this is not particularly surprising. | | | | problem solving, according to James B. Maas, |
| For years, many studies have demonstrated the | | | | PhD, former chairman of the psychology |
| ability of the your brain to solve problems | | | | department at Cornell University, and author |
| while you sleep. Most commonly this consists | | | | of the book "Power Sleep". Dr. Maas went on |
| of one group of people being given a problem | | | | to state that lack of sleep "makes you |
| to solve while awake, while another group has | | | | clumsy, stupid and unhealthy." |
| the opportunity to, well, "sleep on it." | | | | |
| Many students, including myself, have used | | | | While sleep has many benefits which I have |
| the technique of reviewing or studying right | | | | not gone into here, it's good to know that we |
| before bed. When the material is scanned | | | | can learn and grow each night while God's |
| shortly after rising the next day, the | | | | arranging our hair. |