Sleep On it

I didn’t post yesterday because I had a family event to attend in Rhode Island. I didn’t return home until a few minutes after midnight. It was way too late to think about writing a post, I was exhausted and went right to bed.

But, I knew what I wanted to write about. I thought about it while driving home last night. You probably won’t be surprised what I was thinking about after working all day, then driving two hours, attending a two-hour church service and then driving home for two hours. 

I was thinking about sleep.

I happen to know quite a bit about sleep and, trust me, it’s a critical part of learning and, no, I’m not talking about dozing off in class.

In my room, that will only get an eraser tossed at your sleepy head.

When’s the best time to study if you want to retain the information for the long term?

Just before sleeping. 

If you study and then sleep, the brain reorganizes where the information is stored. The brain moves it from short-term memory to long-term memory. 

That last minute cram session for a big test on the ride to school might help a little bit on the test - or it might not - but,  no matter what, you probably won’t recall the information in two weeks.

Remember what I’ve said about learning? I’d rather you get a 70 on a quiz and remember the information for the rest of your life, than get a 100 and forget it all in two weeks.

So, one trick to learning something forever?

Sleep on it.