It is no secret that a good night's sleep improves your mood. Sleep not only helps your body relax and replenish itself, but it also helps your brain's ability to learn and remember.

Your brain is engaged in digesting information throughout the day and making memories while the body is asleep. Lack of sleep puts you at risk for many major health problems such as high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes, as well as affecting your ability to gain and remember new knowledge.

This should come as no surprise to anyone who craves the test overnight, only to find out the facts and statistics they know at 2 am the next day. . When you don’t get enough sleep, your brain becomes foggy, your judgment is impaired and you're fine motor skills are damaged.

Sleep effect

According to Imaging and Behavioral Research, sleep plays an important role in learning and memory. According to researchers, sleep affects learning and memory in two ways:

• Sleep deprivation impairs a person's ability to concentrate and learn effectively.
• Sleep is necessary to consolidate memory (to keep memory constant) so that it can be remembered later.

Making memories

There are many types of memories. Some of them are based on facts, such as remembering the names of state capitals. Some of them are episodic, meaning they focus on certain events in your life, such as your first kiss. Some memories, such as learning to ride a bike or play the piano, are either formal or informative.

Memory formation must have three functions, including:

• The acquisition is the process of learning or experiencing something new.
• Consolidation is the process by which memory is more stable in the brain.
• The ability to access memory in the future is called recall.

When you are awake, you can do both acquisition and recall activities. On the other hand, researchers believe that sleep is essential for memory integration, regardless of memory type. If you do not get enough sleep, your brain will find it very difficult to absorb and retain new knowledge.

Sleep does more than keeping the mind sharp. Sleep has been shown to impair physical reactions, fine motor ability, and judgment studies. In one study, insomniacs were more likely to believe that they were right when they did something wrong.

What happens to you when you sleep?

Scientists are not sure how sleep improves memory, but it does appear to contain the hippocampus and neocortex, parts of the brain that retain long-term memory. The hippocampus should replay the events of the day to the neocortex during sleep, which, when the memories are analyzed and processed, makes them more tolerable.

Researchers are still looking at important sleep stages in the formation of certain memories. According to many studies, when you dream, certain types of memories are stable during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Other research has shown that slow-wave, deep sleep may be the best way to store some memories.

Scientists are getting closer to finding out what sleep does to our brain, but there are still a lot of unanswered issues.

We know that sleep is a biological need for our survival. Unfortunately, very few of us can get the sleep we need to look our best today and at this age. According to experts, adults need seven to nine hours of sleep each night. Even if it is not possible every night, it should be targeted.

Gold tips for sleeping

Here are some tips to help you sleep better:

• Every day, lie down and get up at the same time.
• Exercise regularly, but not close to bedtime. In the opinion of experts, allow at least three hours between activity and bedtime.
• Avoid coffee, alcohol, and nicotine before going to bed.
• Before going to bed, take some time to relax. Relax by taking a warm bath, reading a book, or drinking caffeinated tea, and avoiding any activity that may cause anxiety.
• Before going to bed, wait two to three hours after you finish eating.
• Create a comfortable sleeping environment by making the room dark, cool and quiet.
• To filter out unwanted noises, use a sound machine or another form of the white noise generator.
• In bed, do not watch TV or use the computer. Use your bedroom for sleeping and *** only.

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle in which getting enough sleep regularly can be difficult, especially when you are stressed out from work deadlines or exams. But remember that sleep is your friend (and you need it to achieve that!) So, when it comes to memory and practice, take some rest.