By default, your brain “defragments” when you sleep.
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In a prior post, we reported some scientific evidence that most people really do think when they sleep.
For details, see: I do my best thinking when I’m sleeping … say, what?
Let’s take the science a step further…
First, an analogy…
Have you ever defragmented your computer’s hard drive?
Just in case your answer is “no” – or, you’ve never heard of defragmentation – here’s a short course:
When you save a file on your computer (think: Word, Powerpoint, Excel), the file isn’t stored in one piece.
Rather, it’s automatically broken into smaller pieces … and each piece is stashed in the first place that the computer finds an open space on the hard drive.
Since the file is stored in scattered pieces, the computer has to reassemble it when you subsequently re-open the file.
That takes time … and slows the process.
There’s a process called “defragmentation” that sorts through a computer’s hard drive, eliminates “dead links” and reassembles “live” files into contiguous pieces … making the save & open processes more efficient.
Well, it turns out that your brain comes with a process analogous to defragmentation … it’s called “synaptic pruning” … and it happens automatically when you sleep.
Here’s how it works …
