Here is an article called “Rethinking Sleep” in the NY Times.
Robert Stickgold, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, proposes that sleep — including short naps that include deep sleep — offers our brains the chance to decide what new information to keep and what to toss. That could be one reason our dreams are laden with strange plots and characters, a result of the brain’s trying to find connections between what it’s recently learned and what is stored in our long-term memory. Rapid eye movement sleep — so named because researchers who discovered this sleep stage were astonished to see the fluttering eyelids of sleeping subjects — is the only phase of sleep during which the brain is as active as it is when we are fully conscious, and seems to offer our brains the best chance to come up with new ideas and hone recently acquired skills. When we awaken, our minds are often better able to make connections that were hidden in the jumble of information.
See also: Experimenting with Powernaps and Fragmented Sleep and Memory.
I tried to nap today, but couldn’t fall asleep even though I was exhausted. Apparently, wakeful resting is still beneficial though.
Here are some related articles about sleep and learning that I came across today:
Learning Best When You Rest: Sleeping After Processing New Info Most Effective
New research from the University of Notre Dame shows that going to sleep shortly after learning new material is most beneficial for recall.
People Learn While They Sleep, Study Suggests
“We speculate that we may be investigating a separate form of memory, distinct from traditional memory systems,” said Kimberly Fenn, assistant professor of psychology and lead researcher on the project. “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.”
Sleep Learning Is Possible: Associations Formed When Asleep Remained Intact When Awake
A new Weizmann Institute study appearing August 26 in Nature Neuroscience has found that if certain odors are presented after tones during sleep, people will start sniffing when they hear the tones alone – even when no odor is present – both during sleep and, later, when awake. In other words, people can learn new information while they sleep, and this can unconsciously modify their waking behavior.