6 Surprising Ways Sleep Affects Your Mental Health
Cognitive skills:
Sleep significantly impacts cognitive function, including memory, attention, and processing speed.
Sleep strengthens memories, especially during deep REM sleep.
Sleep helps consolidate and retain information learned during the day,
Sleep is essential for learning and can enhance performance beyond normal levels.
Sleep positively impacts decision-making, reasoning, and language skills.
Brain Activity
Emotions
Dementia:
Experts are still trying to understand why inadequate sleep increases risk of dementia; however, one theory involves a protein in our brains called beta amyloid. Beta-amyloid is the protein that makes up the plaque found in the brains of people with impaired brain function and Alzheimer’s, a neurodegenerative disease. During the day, our brains naturally make this protein. At night, when we sleep, our brains flush the protein away.(kconvery)
Inflammation
Hormone Levels (HPA Axis)
References:
Diekelmann, Susanne. “Sleep for Cognitive Enhancement.” Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, vol. 8, no. 46, Apr. 2014, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnsys.2014.00046.
kconvery. “Understanding the Connection between Sleep and Dementia - Harvard Pilgrim Health Care - HaPi Guide.” Harvard Pilgrim Health Care - HaPi Guide, 31 Aug. 2021, www.harvardpilgrim.org/hapiguide/understanding-the-connection-between-sleep-and-dementia/#:~:text=Experts%20are%20still%20trying%20to. Accessed 12 Sept. 2024.
