Imagine that you’ve got a big exam to do but and you manage to stay up all night and cram everything that you were supposed to know for weeks or months. Can staying up late and losing out on sleep actually do you more harm than good? In this article, we will discuss how poor sleep affects our learning Ability and Brain Function.

Lack of sleep can have many side effects on a person’s life. It can affect mood, memory, judgement and learning. Whether you are a student or an employee, not having a good night’s sleep can impact how efficient you are at learning.

Sleep plays a large role when attempting to learn a new task, and recall specific details and events required to competently function. When people suffer from a Lack Of Sleep, their learning ability becomes compromised.

Effects on memory

The brain’s motor cortex has the responsibility of developing and controlling motor skills. It is furthermore necessary for developing and processing memory. It can also help the brain to rejuvenate after a long day. So, poor sleep inevitably affects your attention span. You become unable or find it increasingly difficult to concentrate on tasks or listen to someone. You would also discover it is harder to answer questions that are directed to you. Having a bad or depressed mood is another way learning is negatively hampered by lack of sleep.

You would not feel to start any new projects, you would not have the mental and emotional energy to learn new skills.

Also, many people dream when they enter sleep. It has been cited that dreams help to organise the events that happened during the day. Therefore, without this the vital process, we may find it difficult to recall information and tasks that were recently learnt.

Even when you try to make some creative endeavour such as painting or typing on your computer, your brain will slow down and hinder any innovative thought.

You also should know, that best learning results and outcomes are nurtured before sleep, such as in the morning. Learning results are additionally at best after sleep as well.

A well rested brain must not be taken for granted. So we can now fully comprehend without rest our brain would not be able to properly coordinate and organise information and also access to information and planning suffers.

Conclusion

Being sleep-deprived results in having fatigue or exhaustion and this can lead to a hindered learning process.

Even short amounts of sleep, for example, a nap can help improve brain function and problem-solving. And getting a good enough rest and night can also contribute to overall good health.