What is the link between sleep and memory?

Sleep is the single most important thing you can do to improve your memory. Neurologist Gayatri Devi, MD, discusses how information is retained and rehearsed while we sleep, so getting quality sleep is imperative for a sharp memory.

Transcript

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Other kinds of memory also get consolidated and rehearsed during sleep. And these are memories for procedures.

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Sleep is probably the single most important thing that you can do to improve your memory.

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What happens is when we sleep, our memory for the day gets rehearsed. All the facts that we've learned during the day get rehearsed.

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So if you studied for your chemistry exam and you're going to take your exam Tuesday morning, it's a very good idea to study for the exam on Monday

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and, hopefully, for the previous several weeks. Make sure you have a good night's sleep on Monday night, because then, your brain rehearses

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all of what you've learned. And then on Tuesday morning, you're going to do much better on your exam than if you didn't sleep on Monday night

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and you kept rehearsing. Other kinds of memory also get consolidated and rehearsed during sleep.

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And these are memories for procedures. So let's say you're learning to foxtrot. Well, guess what. When you're sleeping, if we record

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the parts of the brain that are involved in foxtrotting or another kind of dance, we find

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that those parts of the brain are active again. It's almost as if the brain rehearses these steps that you

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learned during the day, works on them a little bit, fine tunes them, and the next day, you're able to dance a little bit better.

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And soon you might be on "Dancing with the Stars." [AUDIO LOGO]