A news report from The Telegraph explores the impact of sleep on memory.

It is well known that sleep boosts memory, but scientists have shown for the first time it also makes it easier to retrieve nuggets of information that may have got lost in a corner of our brain.

In two situations where subjects forgot information over the course of 12 hours of being awake, after a night’s sleep they were about twice as likely to be able to remember it.

Psychologist Dr Nicolas Dumay, of the University of Exeter, said: “Sleep almost doubles our chances of remembering previously unrecalled material.

“The post-sleep boost in memory accessibility may indicate that some memories are sharpened overnight. This supports the notion that, while asleep, we actively rehearse information flagged as important.

“More research is needed into the functional significance of this rehearsal and whether, for instance, it allows memories to be accessible in a wider range of contexts, hence making them more useful.”

View the full story at www.telegraph.co.uk