Yesterday, we talked with a memory superstar, and he said that improving sleep has a huge impact on his ability to use his brain. A new study at Northwestern University backs this up, and explores an unusual way of promoting better sleep.
The researchers played specific audio while participants were asleep, with the timing and nature of the noise matched up to the participants' brain waves. People exposed to this audio not only got better quality sleep, but their memory abilities were better in the morning.
It shows that better sleep leads to better memory. Not only that—if the study holds up (a big "if" for studies like this), it could lead to devices that measure brainwaves and play sound synced to them, in order to improve sleep.