Although it may seem like a good idea to pull an all-nighter before that big exam, recent studies show sleep is more important than we give it credit for. Here are four reasons to get a few more Zs in the next couple weeks.
Fewer accidents:
As obvious as that may sound, missing a couple hours of sleep has been shown to initiate a localized sleep where different parts of the brain shut down during waking hours to make up for the lack of sleep. According to a study conducted by researchers from the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, teenage athletes who got more than eight hours of sleep were more than 60 percent less likely to sustain injury than those with less sleep.
Creativity Booster:
A recent Harvard Health Blog post by Dr. Harvey Simon reported that a California study found that participants who were encouraged to nap for long enough to enter into REM sleep after reading and before answering creative problems did 40 percent better than the participants who were not allowed to sleep before answering. The REM sleep experienced by the longer nappers allowed the brain to “subconsciously” work out the problems while the body recuperated. So if you find yourself with writers block during that 10-pager, take a few hours to sleep on it and you might find you’re more inspired when you wake up.
Memory Booster:
A 2009 study showed a decrease in activity in the hippocampus of elderly participants, the part of the brain that handles memory, after extended sleep deprivation. Although the patients were all elderly, the effect is the same in most brains — the more you sleep, the easier it is to recall stored information. So rethink that pre-final all-nighter; it turns out it may be more harmful than helpful.
Weight Control:
A 2012 study used groups of twins, about 45 percent fraternal and about 55 percent identical, and had them self-report on height, weight and sleep over a period of time. The results showed for the most part that the twins who slept less had increased BMI compared to their better-sleeping counterpart.
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