Sleep 101 - Sleep Well - Problems - Snoring - More
Sleep Learning Facts Picture Credit: Sleestak66 (Creative Commons) What is Sleep Learning?It is important to distinguish sleep learning from the normal learning processes that go on during sleep. Many studies have shown that a good night's sleep assists the learning process. Sleep helps you to learn information that you have come across during the day. Some people speculate that one function of sleep is to allow the human brain to "organise" the day's memories.Sleep learning is different. It is specifically about learning information whilst asleep rather than consolidating the day's input. Using the night time hours like this is intended to result in accelerated learning as you learn while you sleep.
One of the earliest references to sleep learning comes in Hugo Gernsback's
1911 novel
Most of today's methods of sleep learning involve audio tapes. These gently repeat certain
information or affirmations during the course of the night. Some of these
tapes contain simple statements, others include hypnotic inductions. Some
tapes contain music or binaural betas, some have the information encoded
subliminally.
Sleep learning can theoretically be used for anything, however the most common
applications appear to be learning languages and breaking bad habits. In
the latter case sleep learning is often associated with self-hypnosis.
Some people who have tried sleep learning, subliminal or otherwise, found no benefit. Others
who have report excellent results.
Some of these differences might be due to the exact nature of the sleep learning
material used - what works for one person might not work for another. Other factors
might also come into play such as the stages of sleep
at which the tape is played. In addition, terms such as accelerated learning
and super learning are difficult to define and judge outside of scientific
experiments.
Speaking personally I haven't found sleep learning to work as a replacement for ordinary
learning or behaviour modification techniques. However when used alongside other methods it certainly
seems improve their effectiveness and accelerate other forms of study. It's arguable
that this is simply a self-fulflling prophecy: if I care enough about something to go to
the effort of sleep learning then my brain is more likely to remember it. The important
thing for me is the result, not the mechanism.
As with all these things, what matters is whether or not it works for you.
The only way you'll know that is to try it.
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