The Surprising New Science Of Sleep

You spend a third of your life in bed (if you’re lucky!), but scientists are only just beginning to understand what goes on between the sheets. We reveal the unexpected discoveries being made in the dead of night.

- Prof Alice Gregory

Chances are if you’re reading this then you probably feel like you don’t get enough sleep. But did you know that too much sleep can make you ill? Or that a cup of coffee before bed isn’t necessarily a bad thing? Cutting edge sleep research is throwing up all kinds of surprises when it comes to our slumber…

WE CAN LEARN IN OUR SLEEP

Scientists know that weak traces of memories established during our waking lives are made more stable and enduring while we sleep. Yet what is perhaps less well understood and much more controversial is that we might be able to learn new information while we snooze. An example of this comes from a study in New York that focused on newborn babies. While they slept, a musical tone was played, then air was puffed towards their eyes. The babies soon came to expect the air puff, and would move their eyes upon hearing the tone. However, this was a simple example, and it is unlikely that more complex information could be learned in this way. What’s more, numerous attempts to teach people new information during their sleep at other stages of life and using different experimental designs have largely failed. While sleep is clearly important for our learning and memory, frantically playing audiobooks the night before an important exam is not going to improve anyone’s results. Sorry about that.

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