Sleep: it does a body good!

Hi Everyone!
We hope everyone had a great July 4th holiday and hope you've had the opportunity to get a vacation and, here's the segue, get some sleep.

Did you know that sleep is probably very important in not just our ability to learn but to understand relationships between concepts? Researchers at Boston studied three groups of students and found the group of students that received the longest period of sleep actually learned information better.

To quote Mathew Walker, PhD, "You go to bed with pieces of the memory puzzle, and awaken with the jigsaw completed.”

Here's the link for you to read about it in full detail:
http://researchmatters.harvard.edu/story.php?article_id=1143

One of my freshman college teachers used to tell us that we needed to make sure our head was on our pillows for at least 8 hours each night because we learned by osmosis. At the time, just fresh out of high school chemistry, I thought she was nuts but later realized that the definition she was using was correct.

os·mo·sis [oz-moh-sis,os-]–noun
2. a subtle or gradual absorption or mingling: He never studies but seems to learn by osmosis.

So I've learned a few things here:

1. sleep is good!
2. osmosis really is real!
3. freshman college teachers really aren't crazy!
4. I need to quit finding articles like this in the middle of the night when I can't sleep!

Really, though, think about the application of this study for patients who not only get very little sleep but are very ill, all the while we are trying to teach them about how to prevent ending up in the hospital again (here's how you draw up your insulin, Mr. Smith). The implications for nurses on the floor can be great, especially for those that work odd shifts and may have difficulty with getting enough sleep or with nurses who are working too many hours (and not always at one job).

Again, comments welcomed and encouraged (but then you should go get some sleep)!