Sleep Deprivation (SD) One of the most debilitating and prevalent cognitive impairments of our era

Sleep Deprivation (SD)


One of the most debilitating and prevalent cognitive impairments today

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Just how debilitating is sleep deprivation?

Allow me to explain...

Impaired attention and working memory (short-term)

Long-term Memory and Decision Making

Partial sleep deprivation shown to negatively impact attention and vigilance

Motivation can delay these side effects, conversely sleep deprivation can lower ones motivation

Destabilization of your wake state

A more elusive and less obvious point to consider is the loss of sleep benefits.

Sleep deprivation poses clear detriment to cognitive performance, but also prevents an individual from experiencing the benefits of adequate sleep.

Here is an analogy to help further elucidate this concept of lost sleep benefits:

A paper in The Official Journal of the American Academy of Neurology made an analogy that I think really puts this into terms. They suggested one thinks of sleep as money. You can invest it in the bank, keep it safe, and enjoy interest over time. Or you voluntarily give it up, no longer have the money at all, and also lose the interest you would have accrued.

Let's break that down further

Sleep has a direct effect on your ability to perform cognitively demanding tasks.

From memory to concentration, a lack of sleep can absolutely destroy your ability to be productive.

As obvious as it sounds, NOT sleeping, has negative effects AND prevents you from enjoying the invaluable benefits as well.

So how does one avoid sleep deprivation?

Ways to Avoid and Reduce Poor Sleep

Pay attention to when you are dosing your nootropics allow yourself to wind-down at the end of the day

Quiet, dark, and cool. Three common words used to describe a healthy sleep environment. There is really no valid reason why everyones bedroom is not their sanctuary. Make it happen.

Pre-bed rituals: Read a book, watch a little bit of television, or even perform some of meditation (discussed further in our Pillars of Productivity section at The Brain Bulwark.

Letting your mind rest, let go of your day (dont let problems haunt you), and do NOT stare at the clock

CONSISTENCY- This one is the most important to me. We are all creatures of habit, and we can take full advantage of this to be better sleepers. Staying consistent with steps 1-4 is essential.

Benefits to sleeping?

There are obvious benefits to proper sleep hygiene. Natural energy, along with physical and mental endurance are some of the most noticeable. I would like to propose a lesser known one benefit, one that is stull under investigation. Memory FormationA popular hypothetical model suggests that during a wake state information is encoded in the hippocampus (memory and navigation center). Subsequent slow wave sleep allows the hippocampus to replay this encoded information, and this relay between the neocortex and hippocampus is thought to facilitate the consolidation of memories. It is a thought provoking hypothesis (with further investigation already underway) and makes sleep deprivation a major concern for us at TBBTranslation?

During sleep your brain perform some extremely important tasks, such as memory consolidation.

As explained, this is where your brain will reinforce the pathways and information it has encoded, allowing for easy future access. For this very reason, we focus on sleep in our home-study course. Without it, cognitive performance declines rapidly.

The Brain Bulwark - Cognitive Optimization Program