Learning while sleeping sounds more like science fiction than reality, but the results of many scientific studies have shown that many skills can be learned, or at least well consolidated, during sleep. We present to you the things that we can learn while we sleep and what are the things that really contribute to quality learning.
We can learn foreign words while we sleep.
This was proven by an experiment in which a group of Germans were taught Dutch. Half of the group had the words they learned during the day played during their sleep at night (without their knowledge), while the other half were allowed to sleep without "distractions". The first group fared significantly better than the second in the later tests of word recognition and translation, but the fact that it was not just people who were more intelligent by chance was shown by the fact that they recognized better just those words, which they played to them. The fact that sleep really helped and not anything else was also confirmed by the test group, who were played new foreign words while walking and later performed much worse in word recognition than those who slept. How is that possible? In a simplified way, it is said that our brain converts short-term memories into long-term ones when our brain activity slows down during sleep. The group that was played the words while sleeping had several times slower brain activity while writing than the other groups.
We can recall specific information during sleep.
Our brains classify thousands of everyday pieces of information as either important or unimportant. However, with the help of sleep, we can prevent certain irrelevant information from being forgotten by: we listen to sounds while sleeping, which are related to memory. This was proven by a recent experiment, and a slightly older experiment showed that memories can be strengthened and recalled by smelling those memories while sleeping. smell, which are associated with a specific memory.
READ MORE: What your sleeping position says about you
We can improve our musical skills while we sleep.
This was proven by an experiment in which a group of participants were taught to play the guitar using techniques similar to what can be done in the game Guitar Hero. Then they are in the first part of the group played the melody while sleeping, and the other part of the group was left to sleep undisturbed. After sleeping, the first group (although they did not know that they had been played the melody while they slept and were no more skilled at playing than the second group) mastered the melody much better than the second group.
We will master any subject or skill much better if we go to sleep immediately after studying.
He proved it an experiment with a group of mice, who were trained to drive the spinning wheel forwards, backwards and in other ways. In doing so, they observed the growth of dendrites in their brains with the help of fluorescent proteins. brain cells. In mice that were allowed to sleep immediately after training, dendrites grew much faster, while mice that had to stay awake for at least eight hours after training formed far fewer brain connections. Whenever we learn new things, we train our brain to form new and stronger brain connections.
