The benefits of a good night's sleep - Shai Marcu

Koristi dobrega spanca - Shai Marcu

Translator: Klavdija Cernilogar Reviewer: Nika Kotnik

It's 4 a.m., and the big test is in eight hours,

Ura je štiri zjutraj. Čez osem ur imate pomemben izpit,

followed by a piano recital.

potem pa še klavirski recital.

You've been studying and playing for days, but you still don't feel ready for either.

Učili ste se in vadili cele dneve, a še vedno se ne počutite pripravljeni.

So, what can you do?

Kaj storiti?

Well, you can drink another cup of coffee

Lahko spijete še eno kavo

and spend the next few hours cramming and practicing,

ter še nekaj ur študirate in vadite,

but believe it or not,

a verjemite,

you might be better off closing the books, putting away the music,

morda je bolje odložiti knjige in note

and going to sleep.

ter iti spat.

Sleep occupies nearly a third of our lives,

Spanec zavzema skoraj tretjino življenja,

but many of us give surprisingly little attention and care to it.

a številni mu ne namenimo dovolj pozornosti in skrbi.

This neglect is often the result of a major misunderstanding.

Pogosto je za to kriv velik nesporazum.

Sleep isn't lost time,

Spanje ni izguba časa,

or just a way to rest when all our important work is done.

ni samo počitek, ko smo opravili vse pomembno delo.

Instead, it's a critical function,

Ne, gre za ključen čas,

during which your body balances and regulates its vital systems,

v katerem telo uravnoteži in uredi vse svoje temeljne sisteme,

affecting respiration

vpliva na dihanje

and regulating everything from circulation to growth and immune response.

in ureja vse od prekrvavitve do rasti in imunskega sistema.

That's great, but you can worry about all those things after this test, right?

Super, ampak o tem se boste spraševali šele po izpitu, ne?

Well, not so fast.

Ne tako hitro.

It turns out that sleep is also crucial for your brain,

Izkaže se, da je spanec ključen tudi za možgane,

with a fifth of your body's circulatory blood

saj petina vaše krvi

being channeled to it as you drift off.

gre skoznje, ko spite.

And what goes on in your brain while you sleep

In medtem ko spite,

is an intensely active period of restructuring

se možgani intenzivno restrukturirajo,

that's crucial for how our memory works.

kar je nujno za delovanje spomina.

At first glance,

Na prvi pogled

our ability to remember things doesn't seem very impressive at all.

naša moč spomina ni nič posebnega.

19th century psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus

Psiholog Herman Ebbinghaus je v 19. stoletju pokazal,

demonstrated that we normally forget 40% of new material

da ponavadi v prvih dvajsetih minutah

within the first twenty minutes,

pozabimo 40 odstotkov novega materiala,

a phenomenon known as the forgetting curve.

čemur pravimo krivulja pozabljanja.

But this loss can be prevented through memory consolidation,

A to izgubo lahko preprečimo z utrjevanjem spomina,

the process by which information is moved

torej s premikanjem informacij

from our fleeting short-term memory to our more durable long-term memory.

iz šibkega kratkoročnega spomina v bolj trajen dolgoročni spomin.

This consolidation occurs with the help of a major part of the brain,

Temu pripomore pomemben del možganov,

known as the hippocampus.

ki se mu reče hipokampus.

Its role in long-term memory formation

Njegov pomen za dolgoročni spomin

was demonstrated in the 1950s by Brenda Milner

je v 50-ih letih prejšnjega stoletja dokazala Brenda Milner

in her research with a patient known as H.M.

z raziskavo na pacientu H.M.

After having his hippocampus removed,

Ko so mu odstranili hipokampus,

H.M.'s ability to form new short-term memories was damaged,

je H.M. imel težave s kratkoročnim spominom,

but he was able to learn physical tasks through repetition.

vendar se je s ponavljanjem lahko naučil opravljati fizične naloge.

Due to the removal of his hippocampus,

Brez hipokampusa

H.M.'s ability to form long-term memories was also damaged.

je tudi težko oblikoval dolgoročne spomine.

What this case revealed, among other things,

Ta primer je med drugim razkril,

was that the hippocampus was specifically involved

da je hipokampus posebej dejaven

in the consolidation of long-term declarative memory,

pri utrjevanju dolgoročnega deklarativnega spomina,

such as the facts and concepts you need to remember for that test,

recimo glede dejstev in konceptov, ki jih morate znati za tisti izpit,

rather than procedural memory,

bolj kot proceduralnega spomina,

such as the finger movements you need to master for that recital.

recimo premikanje prstov, da bi obvladali tisti recital.

Milner's findings, along with work by Eric Kandel in the 90's,

Milnerjeva in potem v 90. letih Eric Kandel

have given us our current model of how this consolidation process works.

sta razvila model postopka utrjevanja spomina.

Sensory data is initially transcribed

Senzorični podatki so prepisani

and temporarily recorded in the neurons as short-term memory.

in začasno zabeleženi v nevronih kot kratkoročni spomin.

From there, it travels to the hippocampus,

Potem potujejo v hipokampus,

which strengthens and enhances the neurons in that cortical area.

ki utrdi in okrepi nevrone v tem delu skorje.

Thanks to the phenomenon of neuroplasticity,

Zaradi nevroplastičnosti

new synaptic buds are formed, allowing new connections between neurons,

se oblikujejo novi sinaptični vozli, kar omogoči nove povezave med nevroni

and strengthening the neural network

in utrdi nevronsko mrežo,

where the information will be returned as long-term memory.

kamor se bo informacija vrnila kot dolgoročni spomin.

So why do we remember some things and not others?

Zakaj si potem zapomnimo nekatere stvari, drugih pa ne?

Well, there are a few ways to influence

Obstajajo načini, kako vplivati

the extent and effectiveness of memory retention.

na obseg in učinek spomina.

For example, memories that are formed in times of heightened feeling,

Recimo, spomini, ki nastanejo ob močnejših občutjih

or even stress,

ali med stresom,

will be better recorded due to the hippocampus' link with emotion.

so močnejši, ker je hipokampus povezan s čustvi.

But one of the major factors contributing to memory consolidation is,

A eden bistvenih dejavnikov za utrjevanje spomina

you guessed it,

je, uganili ste,

a good night's sleep.

dober spanec.

Sleep is composed of four stages,

Spanje je sestavljeno iz štirih faz,

the deepest of which are known as slow-wave sleep

najgloblji sta t.i. spanje počasnih valov

and rapid eye movement.

in faza hitrega gibanja zrkel (REM).

EEG machines monitoring people during these stages

EEG naprave, ki merijo te faze spanja,

have shown electrical impulses

so pokazale, da se električni impulzi

moving between the brainstem, hippocampus, thalamus, and cortex,

gibljejo med možganskim deblom, hipokampusom, talamusom in skorjo,

which serve as relay stations of memory formation.

ki so postaje pri oblikovanju spomina.

And the different stages of sleep have been shown to help consolidate

Različne faze spanca pomagajo utrditi

different types of memories.

različne tipe spomina.

During the non-REM slow-wave sleep,

Med ne-REM spanjem počasnih valov

declarative memory is encoded into a temporary store

se deklarativni spomin kodira v začasno skladišče

in the anterior part of the hippocampus.

v zadnjem delu hipokampusa.

Through a continuing dialogue between the cortex and hippocampus,

Skorja in hipokampus ga s stalnim medsebojnim dialogom

it is then repeatedly reactivated,

vedno znova reaktivirata,

driving its gradual redistribution to long-term storage in the cortex.

kar spomin postopoma prenese v dolgoročno skladišče v skorji.

REM sleep, on the other hand, with its similarity to waking brain activity,

REM spanje pa z dejavnostjo, podobno tisti v budnem stanju,

is associated with the consolidation of procedural memory.

pomaga utrjevati proceduralni spomin.

So based on the studies,

Študije kažejo,

going to sleep three hours after memorizing your formulas

da če zaspite tri ure po tem, ko ste se naučili formule,

and one hour after practicing your scales would be the most ideal.

ter uro po tem, ko ste vadili lestvico, bo to prineslo najboljši rezultat.

So hopefully you can see now that skimping on sleep

Morda zdaj razumete, zakaj premalo spanca

not only harms your long-term health,

ne samo da na dolgi rok škodi zdravju,

but actually makes it less likely

ampak tudi preprečuje,

that you'll retain all that knowledge and practice from the previous night,

da bi si zapomnili znanje in vaje prejšnjega večera.

all of which just goes to affirm the wisdom of the phrase, "Sleep on it."

To pomeni, da nasvet "prespi vso stvar", res deluje.

When you think about all the internal restructuring

Ko pomislite na notranje spremembe

and forming of new connections that occurs while you slumber,

ter nove povezave, ki nastanejo, ko drnjohate,

you could even say that proper sleep

bi lahko rekli, da dober spanec

will have you waking up every morning with a new and improved brain,

vsako jutro prinese nove in boljše možgane,

ready to face the challenges ahead.

pripravljene na nove izzive.