- Sleep is critical for memory consolidation and adults need at least seven hours
- Not closing your eyes enough can cause memories to not form properly
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Kim Kardashian is a busy woman. So busy that the lack of proper rest is destroying her memory, she recently claimed.
In the latest episode of The Kardashians, which aired this week on Hulu, the reality TV mogul and businesswoman claimed that her manic schedule resulted in memory loss.
She said: ‘I was looking on TikTok and saw myself walking up to people, fans I know and love, and telling them all our SKIMS secrets about how we’re launching menswear soon… actually no memory of it.’
‘It felt like a dream. Like: did I go? I thought I dreamed that. Like this whole morning has been a completely foggy dream,” she added.
In the episode, the mother of four blamed a lack of sleep.
Kim Kardashian revealed on the latest episode of The Kardashians that she was so overtired by her manic schedule that she suffered blackouts and couldn’t remember meeting fans
But can a lack of shut-eye really cause memory failure? Yes, according to experts.
A number of studies show that sleep is critical for memory consolidation – and that six hours or less of sleep can affect both short-term and long-term memory.
Lack of sleep affects the part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is essential for creating new memories.
Dr. Matthew Walker, a sleep scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote on the National Institute of Health website: “We have learned that sleep before learning helps prepare your brain for the initial formation of memories.
‘Sleep after learning is essential to help store and cement that new information into the brain’s architecture, meaning you’re less likely to forget it.’
Memory consolidation is thought to occur during both the non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM), or very deep, phases of the sleep cycle.
During the NREM phases, the first two phases of lighter sleep, the brain will sort through memories from the previous day, pulling out important ones and removing unnecessary information.
As the brain enters REM sleep, these memories deepen.
The REM stage also involves processing emotional memories, which can help the mind cope with difficult experiences.
People who don’t get enough sleep can have a hard time remembering things because the brain hasn’t had enough time to create new pathways, according to Dr. Anis Rehman of The Sleep Foundation.
Research has also shown that sleep strengthens the neural connections that form memories.
A lack of sleep means that those neurons are overworked and cannot function properly, which means that information is not processed sufficiently in the brain the next day.
According to the National Institutes of Health, if you don’t sleep in one night, your ability to learn new things can decrease by as much as 40 percent.