Do House-Elves Clean Your Brain While You Sleep?

Abstract

Sleep will consume one-third of your life. You can’t avoid it, nor should you. Sound slumber can make you feel wonderful. But there’s more to it. Sleep is also essential for learning. Much of who you are—your memories and your habits—may depend on what your brain does while you sleep. This article covers some new experiments on this topic, and some unexpected findings. Each day, you acquire all sorts of new knowledge. That includes things you read, things you learn in school, news about friends, and your own creative thoughts or pictures. And maybe where you put down that book you were reading. Later, many of these memories can be difficult to remember. Recent scientific findings are helping us understand how brain activity during sleep aids remembering.