Sleep Disorders and Memory


Short Term and Long Term Memory



Memory Transfer During Sleep

One of the activities the brain undertakes whilst we sleep is the processing of the day’s short term memories, setting aside those that seem insignificant and storing the important ones (we are not born knowing which is which but learn this during our early years, which is why some people with learning disorders are better at remembering unusual things). If we don’t sleep at all for a long time, this process can break down and important memories can simply be lost.


Visualisation and Memory

So if short term memory processing isn’t a problem, what’s really going on when we find ourselves forgetting where we put things because we are tired? This is now thought to be caused not by the processing but by the very formation of new memories, especially where vision is involved.

Recent research has shown that the visual cortex – the part of the brain that processes what we see – doesn’t function properly when we are overtired. This means that when we try to remember what we saw, we can’t access the memory because it was never properly created in the first place. The good news is that we may be able to remember associated sounds and smells more effectively. By focusing on these other senses we can remember things more effectively even when exhausted.



In the meantime, a good approach to coping with insomnia elated memory problems is to take micro-naps. In fact, if you have ever experienced short blackouts during a long period without sleep, your brain will have been ding this by itself. It’s often easier that getting a proper sleep and it can enable to brain to deal with really urgent memory processing tasks so that you can function more normally even when you’re really tired.