The following is taken from an article in Sleep Savvy Magazine entitled “Want more brain power?  Sleep on it”.  Sleep improves our learning capability and capacity by helping the brain to create and consolidate memories.  The learning process is made up of the three Rs–reception, retention and recall.  Getting a good night’s sleep before we learn something helps the brain be more receptive; sleep prepares the brain for learning.  Restorative sleep before we learn also helps the brain retain short-term memory, so we learn more quickly.  Then, after we have learned something, it’s important to get a good night’s sleep so we improve our long-term memory and recall.  Sleep helps the memories “stick” so we can retrieve them when we need them.  Sweet Memories and Dreams Tonight!