Learn Whilst You Sleep?

"There is substantial evidence that during sleep, your brain is processing information without your awareness and this ability may contribute to memory in a waking state" says Kimberly Fenn, assistant professor of psychology and lead researcher of a study conducted by Michigan State University researchers.

The study which was conducted by Fenn and Zach Hambrick, associate professor of psychology and used more than 250 people suggests that people derive vastly different effects from this sleep memory ability, with some memories improving dramatically and others not at all. This new, previously undefined form of memory is an unconscious form of memory that is still not properly understood means that people may be learning while they are sleeping.

"You and I could go to bed at the same time and get the same amount of sleep," Fenn said, "but while your memory may increase substantially, there may be no change in mine."
She did say however that most people showed improvement.

This is yet another study that reinforces the need for a good night's sleep and shows that whatever your age, gender, aspirations, you still function much better when you can fall asleep and have that deep refreshing sleep!

Poor Relationships Linked To Insomnia

A study by Dr Dan Robotham, senior researcher at the Mental Health Foundation showed people with insomnia and who couldn't fall asleep were four times as likely to have relationship problems, three times as likely to feel depressed and three times as likely to suffer from a lack of concentration.
Nearly 6,800 people took part in an online survey, believed to be the largest of its type in the UK.

Dr Robotham is also the lead author of the Great British Sleep Report published by the Mental Health Foundation. He believes people can get stuck in a spiral where poor sleep leads to mental health problems which leads to even worse sleep.

The report suggests a link between insomnia and poor relationships, low energy levels and an inability to concentrate.
It says that lack of sleep needs to be treated as a major health issue and also calls for GPs to have more training to recognise the symptoms.

Poor sleep has already been linked to depression, immune deficiency and heart disease.

Insomnia is thought to affect about 30% of UK adults and as such, Professor Colin Espie, director of the Glasgow University Sleep Centre said, we could no longer just ignore the impact of sleep problems in this country. They are affecting our health, our economy, and our everyday happiness.

Lack of Sleep Can Even Affect How You See Colors

According to a study carried out at the  University of Houston in Texas, a lack of sleep can affect how you see colors.
The study involved five people who viewed a full-field, homogenous stimulus of either slightly reddish or greenish hue. The observers had to judge whether the stimulus was greener or redder than their internal perception of neutral gray. Across trials the hue was varied. One pair of monocular tests was performed just before participants went to sleep, and testing was repeated after participants slept for an average of 7.7 hours.
Lack of sleep can make you see the color gray as having a slightly but significantly greenish tint. Overnight sleep restored perception to achromatic equilibrium so that gray was perceived as gray.
According to the authors and principal investigator Bhavin Sheth, scientists had not previously investigated how sleep might affect the way we view the world around us. "Our findings suggest that wakefulness causes color classification to drift away from neutrality, and sleep restores color classification to neutral." In other words, a lack of sleep makes you see neutral colors abnormally and when you are sleeping well again, this color perception is restored to normal.