Improve Your Memory By Dreaming

Want to have a good memory? Dr. Chester Pearlman, a Boston psychiatrist, said the key to remembering facts and improving one's memory is dreaming.

That’s right - dreaming. Dream about animals, your loved one or a coming event. Just think about anything and Pearlman said you'll be surprised at the results.

For some reason or other, dreaming helps us store the memories of the day. So if you don't dream, chances are you won't have long-term memory.

The task isn't difficult as it sounds. Each of us has three to seven dreams for every eight-hour period of sleep. Pearlman said the rapid eye movements (REMs) that accompany dreaming are essential in improving memory.

This was proven as early as 1960 when French psychologists Vincent Block and Pierre Leconte found that trained rats couldn't find their way in mazes after being deprived of REM sleep. Why is this so?

Researchers at the University of Ottawa learned that facts are integrated into long-term memory during REM sleep. In short, the events of the day become a part of us when we get a full eight hours of sleep accompanied by dreaming.

But improved memory is not the only benefit of dreaming. Pearlman also found that sleeping helps us cope with stress.

After monitoring the sleep patterns of psychiatric patients, he and Dr. Ramon Greenberg of Boston's Veteran's Administration Hospital found that stressful situations often accompanied a rise in REM sleep. The same results were obtained with people who were shown distressful movies.

This led them to conclude that a good night's sleep not only helps improve memory but also relieves us of the day's problems. Brooding about something and staying awake at night, they said, isn't good for the health.

The reason for this is not clear but scientists are hoping to unlock the relationship of dreaming and memory in the near future.

So if you have a test, don't cram but study ahead and sleep your worries away. You'll be able to think clearer and learn faster that way.

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