Late Night is Better for Rest and Less Effective for Work

Many studies have demonstrated that sleep quality has a close relationship with memory and mental performance. In fact, many of us have recognized in our own lives that our memory and recall are not as sharp when we are sleep deprived compared to times when we are well rested. In this month’s journal SLEEP (Vol 33, No. 10, Oct. 1, 2010) another study and associated editorial were published on this very subject. (“A Time for Learning and a Time for Sleep: The Effect of Sleep Deprivation on Contextual Fear Conditioning at Different times of the Day” Roeline Hagewoud, et al, pp 1315-1322)

This study showed that rats demonstrated reduced learning when allowed to sleep less following a learning stimulus when compared with rats which had the opportunity to sleep amounts consistent with the normal rat sleep cycle. The researchers concluded that not only was the amount of sleep deprivation a significant factor, but the timing of sleep deprivation (deprived during normal sleep hours) that affected learning and the consolidation of memories. It appears that each stage of sleep may have a layering effect in the production of long term, integrated memories.

A corollary of the study is that late night work is not nearly as productive as we tend to think it is. It is far better to put work away at bedtime, get adequate, restorative sleep and start fresh in the morning.

The age-old question “How much sleep do I need may be a much more complicated question that it initially seems but the answer definitely requires getting a full night of sleep on a consistent schedule. Adults should be getting to bed by 10-11 p.m. and sleeping 8 hours. Children have varying sleep schedule requirements depending on their ages. However, essentially all children should be in bed going to sleep at least by 9 p.m. and most school aged children should be getting 9-10 hours of sleep/night. If you or the children are too tired to wake up easily, you are probably not getting enough sleep.

Sleep well and have a good day.

Darius Zoroufy, M.D.