Hey guys Ron White here, the memory guy and I want to talk to you today about probably
one of the worst enemies for your memory and that is sleep deprivation.
I recently was the keynote speaker at a conference in Denver and the speaker who spoke before
me was Dr. James Maas.
He wrote this book Sleep for Success and when I heard this speaker who was talking before
me, he was speaking for an hour and a half on sleep I was like oh!
My god well this is where I am going to catch up on my sleep.
But it was one of the most fascinating talks I ever heard and he stole the show and then
when I thought about it how much before sleep affects almost every aspect of your life especially
memory though and I should know this better than anyone.
In 2010 when I was going to compete for my second win at the USA memory championship,
the night before I got stick with the most terrible bout of insomnia.
I could not sleep.
I tried everything other than sleep medication because I didn’t want my head to be cloudy
the next day.
By 6 AM I had [inaudible 0:01:05.4] just given up, talked to my girlfriend on the phone and
she gave me a pep talk and told me go to sleep and whatever she said must work because I
went to sleep and I slept for about seventy or eighty minutes from 6 o’clock to 7.10,
7.15 something like that and then I went into a mental tournament against some very very
smart people with seventy minutes sleep.
I pulled that win at the USA memory Championship but I don't know if I will do that again.
In this book here, Sleep For Success, Dr. James Maas said that a sleep deprived person,
in a person operating less worth of sleep, the brain, the memory efficiency is nineteen
percent less.
Nineteen percent less if you are sleep deprived.
He says no matter how smart you are, if you are sleeping less than eight hours a night
your brain is not going to be operating at its peak efficiency.
He goes on to say that a person who has had no sleep, their memory is operating on fifty
percent less capability than the person who is well rested.
This is fascinating for me.
A person who has been awake for seventeen to eighteen hours, their brain is performing
as if they had a blood alcohol content of 0.05.
I think you might know that 0.08 is legally drunk.
Sleep really affects your memory.
One thing I [inaudible 0:02:36] to get this book because he gives us the fancy words that
the PhD knows and can use and after the simple layman's version though, basically what he
says in here is you got different parts in the brain, the hippocampus and the neocortex
and the first several hours of sleep your memory is going to be laid down, it is in
permanent residence in your brain and in the last two hours of sleep, from six to eight
hours of sleep.
In the REM sleep your mind keeps replaying the memories over and over again in your brain
to make them solid.
In other words what he says is if you learnt something today and then you don't give at
least eight hours of sleep tonight then tomorrow you are not going to, it won't be enforced
into your long term memory.
In order for something to go into your long term memory you need to learn it today and
then get eight hours sleep tonight and during that eight hours of sleep it will take that
permanent residence in your brain and in the two hour window from six to eight hours it
is going to replay it over and over in your REM sleep and make it permanent memory.
So not only is sleep important the night before a good test or the night before your game,
good night's sleep is also important the night after you have learnt something.
I never do that, I never realized that if I want to memorize something memorize and
then get a good night's sleep and that would do much for to put that in long term memory
than most things can do.
Another good book that I recently read is Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer.
He is the2006 USA memory champion and he talks about how before 2006 USA Memory Championship
he was also struck with bouts of insomnia and he just got three hours of sleep or so
and then he also went on to win the championship.
Insomnia is going to strike you whenever you are not relaxed.
Right now I have a song on my laptop and I will play it for you right here and this is
what I am playing in my mind over and over again.
Bradley 'free and easy down the road I go".
Free and easy down the road I go, that is the attitude I am taking this week as I train
for the next USA Memory Championship because I know if my brain is relaxed free and easy
down the road i go and I should be able to sleep.
Good tips on sleeping are having a regular bedtime, though alcohol will put you to sleep
initially it is actually going to wake you up and keep you and keep you from getting
those deep levels of sleep.
Alcohol is not good before you go to bed.
Sleep medication that is also going to keep you from getting into the deep levels of sleep
so it is also good to avoid that.
My name is Ron white.
I am a two times USA Memory Champion going for a repeat and I just wanted to encourage
you to get some sleep.
It is one of the best things that you can do for your memory and for some great tips
on sleep go to this book.
I am going to pay if you buy this because that is worth the money.
Sleep for Success, Dr James Maas and get the book, Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua
Foer in which talks about how he struggled with sleep although it is not a big part of
the book but it might give you an idea how a memory champion also struggles with sleep
and how sleep affects your memory.
My name is Ron White.
Visit me at brainathlete.com.
I am America's Memory.