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posted by martyb on Monday March 11 2019, @06:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the One,-Two,-Freddy's-Coming-For-You dept.

Is it possible to make use of the little death? Can you learn while asleep? It turns out that, just maybe there's something possible after all.

Recent research indicates that if you don't sleep well it may contribute to Alzheimer's, and most are aware you won't form memories or learn as well. If you don't sleep at all it can even mean lights out for good (humans are more resilient to lack of sleep than many animals, but it will still get you.)

It has long been one of man's aspirations to make use of that lost 1/3 of our life in some useful fashion. Early flawed studies even seemed to show it was possible (flawed in that what learning occurred was actually due to the stimulus waking the sleeper) and products were produced with this in mind, such as the 1930's era psycho-phone, an Edison style phonograph on a timer that played inspirational messages while you slept.

in recent years, studies have found that the brain may not be a total blob during sleep. These findings suggest that it is possible for the sleeping brain to absorb information and even form new memories. The catch, however, is that the memories are implicit, or unconscious. Put another way, this form of learning is extremely basic, much simpler than what your brain has to accomplish if you want to learn German or quantum mechanics.

For example, simple associations can be made to break habits. The example is given of associating the smell of rotten fish with cigarettes:

Multiple studies have found that a basic form of learning, called conditioning, can happen during sleep. In a 2012 study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, for example, Israeli researchers found that people can learn to associate sounds with odors during sleep. The scientists played a tone to sleeping study participants while unleashing a nasty spoiled-fish smell. Once awake, upon hearing the tone, the people held their breath in anticipation of a bad smell.

Unfortunately, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch:

Stimulating the sleeping brain with new information likely disrupts the functions of sleep, negatively affecting the pruning and strengthening of what we have learned over the previous day.

[...] While losing quality sleep to potentially learn a few words is not a smart trade-off, researchers continue to study sleep learning because the compromise may be worth it in special cases. For example, sleep learning could be useful when people need to change a habit or alter stubborn disturbing memories in cases of phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Research is ongoing in this area, but who knows. We can dream right?


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by aristarchus on Monday March 11 2019, @07:51AM (6 children)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Monday March 11 2019, @07:51AM (#812598) Journal

    You keep using that phrase, "little death", and I do not think it means what you think it means. In fact, it means,

    in modern usage refers specifically to "the sensation of post orgasm as likened to death."[1]

    Most people, or at least most males, are not asleep during the "little death". La petite mort [wikipedia.org] So far as I know, never refers to sleep.

      Perhaps you refer to a verse from the Hadith:

    The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Sleep is the brother of death, and the inhabitants of Paradise do not die.” [Mishkat]

    http://dailyhadith.adaptivesolutionsinc.com/hadith/Brother-of-Death.htm [adaptivesolutionsinc.com]

    Wasn't this a thing, along with the Power of Positive Thinking (magic), Speed Reading (magic), and Subliminal Learning, back in the Gullible '70s?

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  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday March 11 2019, @09:19AM

    by MostCynical (2589) on Monday March 11 2019, @09:19AM (#812605) Journal
    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
  • (Score: 2) by driverless on Monday March 11 2019, @09:30AM (1 child)

    by driverless (4770) on Monday March 11 2019, @09:30AM (#812606)

    That was my immediate response as well, are we talking about sleeping or wanking? I guess one of the things you'd learn there is "I need to stop wanking so much".

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 11 2019, @03:21PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 11 2019, @03:21PM (#812704) Journal

      Aren't sleeping and wanking opposite states? If you're not doing one, you're doing the other?

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 11 2019, @10:01AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 11 2019, @10:01AM (#812609)

    What?! Cumming is supposed to feel like death?! Have I been doing it wrong, have the past 20 years of my life been wasted?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 11 2019, @11:48AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 11 2019, @11:48AM (#812627)

      have the past 20 years of my life been wasted?

      No. Wrong question, actually.

      has my life been wasted?

      Yes. FTFY.

      Thank you.

      No. No need to thank me.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 12 2019, @03:52PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 12 2019, @03:52PM (#813319)

      Not cumming you retard. The part minutes after when you feel tired / lose all sexual drive and fall asleep.