Matthew Walker

he more deep NREM sleep, the more information an individual remembered the next day.

The Sound of Silence.” Perhaps you know the song and lyrics. Simon and Garfunkel describe greeting their old friend, darkness (sleep).

Said another way, forgetting is the price we pay for remembering.

the function of REM-sleep dreaming was to remove unwanted or overlapping copies of information in the brain: what he termed “parasitic memories.” It was a fascinating idea, but it remained just that—an idea—for almost thirty years, receiving no formal examination

the most repeated and entrusted teaching edict: practice makes perfect. Not so, it seemed. Perhaps it was practice, with sleep, that makes perfect

daytime naps that contain sufficient numbers of sleep spindles also offer significant motor skill memory improvement, together with a restoring benefit on perceived energy and reduced muscle fatigue.

Post-performance sleep accelerates physical recovery from common inflammation, stimulates muscle repair, and helps restock cellular energy in the form of glucose and glycogen.

though equally ruinous and similarly fatal—effects of short sleep on the body.

momentary lapse in concentration, called a microsleep.

They are usually suffered by individuals who are chronically sleep restricted, defined as getting less than seven hours of sleep a night on a routine basis.