CNN 2010-04-29

I Remember this the next time your loving spouse¹ interrupts your couch coma². That little nap could help your memory. A snooze you can use. Here's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA：I've been fascinated by this whole concept of sleep. How we sleep, why we sleep, for a very long time and some new research coming out is pretty interesting stuff, saying basically that while sleep is good, dreaming is even better as far as learning thing, remembering things, synthesizing things and figuring out problems. Just fascinating stuff.

 

They had a series of tests and problems they presented to people. They allowed certain people to sleep after the problem was presented and other people did not get to sleep and they really tried to figure out what was happening specifically in the brain and how people would perform. First of all they found that people who got a little bit of sleep were able to figure out a lot of these problems easier and more quickly.

 

Now, take a look at the brain here specifically, as that brain spins around you'll see there are two areas that are really of critical importance, the frontal area in light purple and the back area in dark purple - that's called the hippocampus, the frontal area of the frontal lobes³. These two areas really need to be talking to each other to solve problems.

 

The front area sort of analyzes⁴ problems, try to synthesize it, and the back area is where you store memories and you can recall other memories that can help you figure out the problem. When you're awake these two parts of the brain are talking to each other but there's also lots of other areas of the brain that are talking to each other, sort of makes it harder and could interfere⁵ with that communication.

 

When you are sleeping and even more specifically when you're dreaming those two areas seem to communicate much more easily and that's why it's easier to solve a problem or synthesize something while you're doing this. You think your brain is asleep, it's really not, it can be working on something which is why people probably are told to sleep on it. You sleep on it and all of a sudden the answer comes to you.

 

Now, you know, this has a lot of implications. If you're sort of mulling over a difficult problem and you simply can't seem to figure it out. Even resting for about 90 minutes or so, that can give you enough time to cycle through your stages of sleep and possibly come up with an answer. We do have five stages of sleep and it's REM sleep when your eyes are darting⁶ back and forth⁷ when you're usually dreaming and again it's that state of sleep that often is the best in terms of trying to figure out some of these problems.

 

Again, fascinating research, I think and hopefully helpful to anyone trying to get extra sleep and maybe solve some problems at the same time.

1 spouse   

n.配偶(指夫或妻)

参考例句：

• Her spouse will come to see her on Sunday.她的丈夫星期天要来看她。
• What is the best way to keep your spouse happy in the marriage?在婚姻中保持配偶幸福的最好方法是什么？

2 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

3 lobes   

n.耳垂( lobe的名词复数 )；（器官的）叶；肺叶；脑叶

参考例句：

• The rotor has recesses in its three faces between the lobes. 转子在其凸角之间的三个面上有凹槽。 来自辞典例句
• The chalazal parts of the endosperm containing free nuclei forms several lobes. 包含游离核的合点端胚乳部分形成几个裂片。 来自辞典例句

4 analyzes   

v.分析( analyze的第三人称单数 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• This approach analyzes management by studying experience usually through cases. 这个学派通常从实例获得经验，用以分析管理。 来自辞典例句
• The econometrician analyzes statistical data. 经济计量学者要分析统计材料。 来自辞典例句

5 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

6 darting   

v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• Swallows were darting through the clouds. 燕子穿云急飞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Swallows were darting through the air. 燕子在空中掠过。 来自辞典例句

7 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。