Sleep & Learning

Sleep makes us better at everything. “The disruption of deep sleep is contributing to cognitive decline,” Walker says—in aging patients at risk of or already experiencing dementia, and even in healthy people. “You need sleep after learning, to essentially hit the save button on those new memories so you don’t forget. But recently we’ve discovered that you also need sleep before learning. Almost like a dry sponge to suck up new information. Without sleep, the brain becomes essentially water logged.”