This is a great study. No, pulling all nighters are NOT good prep for an exam (or at least not for actually LEARNING the material). And, no, the study does NOT say you can learn via osmosis (sleeping with a textbook under your pillow).
Why Sleep Is Needed To Form Memories
I believe that this is often why we need to “sleep on” major decisions. Not only do we get distance from it and the emotion often has time to drain away, but I believe that we create additional neuronal connections that allow us to see the situation more clearly and with information we may not have “had” the day before.
Cool stuff!
About Jen Waak
[...] talked here and here about how your brain processes information during downtime, and how sleep is the ultimate downtime [...]