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?
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Monday March 11 2019, @07:19AM (2 children)
It's taken me very far. And I wouldn't change it for the World. Well, maybe for the World. How does somebody that’s sleeping 12 and 14 hours a day compete with someone that’s sleeping 3 or 4?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 11 2019, @03:19PM (1 child)
That's a surprisingly diplomatic and polite way of putting things. Are you sure you are feeling well?
I would have expected: how does a millennial compete with someone full of energy.
I normally feel sorry for the poor millennials who must snap awake at the crack of noon! But today with the spring time change it must be brutal.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Monday March 11 2019, @04:02PM
We love Day Light Saving Time, don't we? Folks like me that work very hard and are very successful love that one. We go to work in the morning and maybe it's dark, that's O.K. Because at the end of the day, when they pay us, it's not the end of the day. We get an extra hour to spend our money. Whether it's at an interesting bar, a fabulous restaurant, or possibly a very special hour with a beautiful and sexy "lady." Great for our economy and a lot of fun for us.
And you're so right, I'm very careful about what I tweet. And what I say. I never forget the Losers & Haters, I don't want to offend anybody. And it's working. 52% Approval Rating. Republican Approval Rating just hit 93%, a record. I'm the most popular Republican ever. Since Lincoln, and including Lincoln. Pretty amazing considering that 93% (also) of my press is REALLY BAD. Sorry Haters, the "people" are SMART!!!
(Score: 5, Informative) by aristarchus on Monday March 11 2019, @07:51AM (6 children)
You keep using that phrase, "little death", and I do not think it means what you think it means. In fact, it means,
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:
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?
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday March 11 2019, @09:19AM
http://nassauweekly.com/the_philology_of_the_orgasm/ [nassauweekly.com]
"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)
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
Aren't sleeping and wa
nking opposite states? If you're not doing one, you're doing the other?The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 11 2019, @10:01AM (2 children)
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
No. Wrong question, actually.
Yes. FTFY.
No. No need to thank me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 12 2019, @03:52PM
Not cumming you retard. The part minutes after when you feel tired / lose all sexual drive and fall asleep.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 11 2019, @09:41AM
I discovered I learn things a lot better this way during college. I had access to most lectures online. I found one day that if I play the lectures while sleeping I could replay them the next day and I would retain a lot more. This works especially well for topics that go against intuition such as quantum mechanics. Play the lecture as you go to sleep in order to learn the intuition needed. Then play again during the day to pick up on the math. It works really well.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday March 11 2019, @02:40PM
Nevermind my choice of subject material, but it is the book of Revelation.
Some years ago, probably about a decade ago, I started playing the reading of The Revelation while I slept. I already had some familiarity with the overall outline up to about chapter 7 and a bit of 8.
Here is how it progressed, as I seem to recall. First I realized I could recall a number of significant events. eg, the trumpet judgements in ch.8, some of the golden bowl judgements in ch.16, and the gist of ch.19 through the last ch.22.
But it took significant time. This would not be how to learn for a college class, for example.
While I may have done some learning while asleep, I would emphasize that I would be able to actively listen during periods I would awake and then go back to sleep again.
It became so familiar that I didn't like to sleep without it. I gradually got a very solid understanding -- without reading. Then when I would read that book, it all really seemed to cement it all; taking it in by reading instead of listening.
After about two years, I think, I had pretty encyclopedic knowledge of The Revelation. I've often wanted to put that to the test. Have someone start reading anywhere in that book, maybe even in any modern English translation, and see just how many seconds it takes before I can tell you which chapter and what part of the chapter is being read.
So after nearly three years, I started listening to other books of the bible. The major prophets starting with Isaiah and Jeremiah. Then Ezekiel. Sometimes Daniel, but I would put that one into two small play lists. Some nights chapters 1-6, then in a different month, chapters 7-12.
Then other books. The four books of the Kings. (1&2 Sam, 1&2 Kings). Later Genesis, Joshua, Judges. Esther. Sometimes Ezra or Nehemiah. And later minor prophets, several books on a single playlist. Similarly sometimes multiple short NT books on a play list.
Now, I don't think I could ever stop listening. It is awkward to sleep somewhere where I can't listen. Or I use ear buds.
After a decade I can definitely say that the material sticks. It really does. Then I got to reading before bedtime in addition to listening. Making a point to listen to a different portion than I read. The reading had the effect that I could think of specific topics or events and have at least book or chapter reference knowledge, and sometimes down to the actual verse knowledge of where to find it. Where does Peter talk about "experts in greed" -- ah, he must mean MBAs! Or Rehoboam saying that his little finger was thicker than his father's . . . um . . . loins. And many other interesting details I never dreamed of.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.