The modern world is fast paced and a good night sleep seems to be somewhat of a luxury. Understanding how to get a good night sleep is often the first step to ensure you can fit this luxury into your life.

Monday morning blues

After a hard week or after partying the night before, most of us look forward to a sleep in on the weekend. It is a time we can catch up on our sleep. The problem with this is that your body likes to stick to a routine. When Monday morning comes around, your body will want to sleep in to the same time as the weekend. Your alarm disturbs this and you get Monday morning blues.

Go to bed the same time as last night

Had a late night last night? too bad. You will need a late night again tonight. Your body can not handle going to bed 3am one night and then 9pm the next. At the most it can only efficiently handle up to an hours change to sleeping patterns. This means that if you went to bed at 3am last night and woke up at 11am, the earliest you should go to bed tonight is 2am. You should also not expect to rise before 10am ether.

Caffeine takes 6 hours

Most people assume that the effect of caffeine is instant and wears off after an hour. It will surprise many people to learn that it takes up to 6 hours for caffeine to have its full effect. If you have caffeine at 5pm, it will hamper sleep until well after 11pm.

Alcohol makes sleep less efficient

Alcohol seems as if it helps you get to sleep, but it just means that your body will want to sleep longer to recover from the effect the alcohol has.

Stay still in bed

There is no way you can get to sleep if you continually move about. Stop scratching itches, trying to find a good position or moving in general. Just stay still.

Exercise

Make sure that you exercise during the day as this will help you get to sleep. Just make sure that it is at least 2 hours before bed so that you give your body time to wind down.

Worry and stress

If you have something on your mind, this can often stop you getting to sleep. Make sure that you try to sort out all of your problems, stresses and worries before you attempt sleep.

For some people, getting up early happens naturally for them and they just jump out of bed when the birds start chirping. Most people find getting up out of be hard and struggle to wake themselves up.

Modern Struggle

With modern life becoming busier and busier, there is more push for us to sleep less and get have more set sleeping times. We tend to get home later, have dinner later and try to fit more in.

This guide was written to help note down what I should be doing to keep my early mornings regular and I hope you also find it helpful.

Exercise before bed

The first thing that you should make sure that you do not do is exercise before bed. When you exercise, your body becomes alert and aware. You will not be able to go to sleep when you body is in the post-exercise state. Try to not do any exercise less than 1 hour before going to bed.

Routine

One way that people try to regulate their sleeping patterns is to go to bed and get up at the same time. It is like going to bed when an alarm tells you to and getting up when an alarm tells you. By doing this, your body get to know when it needs to wake up in the morning as you keep a regular time.

The problem with going to bed and getting up at the same time is that you body does not always need the same amount of sleep. If you have run a marathon than day, you will need more sleep compared to watching TV all day. If you go to bed at a set time, you are likely to ether get too much sleep or not enough.

Another problem is that it is not always possible to get to bed at your set time. Things may go later than you expected or you might get caught in the traffic on the way home.

If you do get to bed on your set time, you may find yourself too awake and you may waste time lying awake in bed.

Body clock

A second way that people manage their sleeping times is to go to sleep when they are sleepy and get up when they feel rested. This approach is rooted in biology. Our bodies should know how much rest we need, so we should listen to them.

The problem with this is that our bodys likes to get more sleep that it requires and will often want to sleep 10 to 12 hours instead of the recommended 8 hours. Also our body clocks are closer to 25 hour cycles rather than 24 hours. This means that without an alarm clock, you will find that you will get up later and later.

Sleep in

Many of us sleep in on Saturdays. It is nice to just lie there and relax in your nice, warm bed. The problem with Saturday morning sleep-ins is that they could be a sign that you are not getting enough sleep and they also break your routine

If you have been having too many late nights during the past week and feel tired most of the day, you will find that your body needs to catch up on the sleep that you have missed. To get around this, make sure that you go to bed when you are tired.

If you sleep in on Saturdays, you are not getting up the same time every day and you confuse your body. Your body likes to get up at the same time, and thinks that the later the better. So you should try to avoid the sleep-ins.

Caffeine

Caffeine is one of the most popular stimulants used be workers and students to makes sure that they do not fall asleep on the job. It allows you to stay awake longer.

The problem with caffeine is that although it helps you stay awake longer, it does not stop you feeling sleepy. It just stops you from falling asleep. When you are still feeling its side effects 2 hours later, you will not be able to get to sleep and you will no longer have your routine.

The best option is to try and stop drinking coffee.

Body clock and a regular wake up call

If you are struggling to get up in the morning, only go to bed when you are sleepy. When the morning comes around, use an alarm clock to get up at the same early time each day (including weekends). Your body will get used to getting up at that time and you will have more time before lunch.

We all have had problems with our alarms some times. You are in your nice and warm bed, your alarm goes off, you hit the snooze button and you are soon late for work and stuck in the morning rush hour traffic.

It seems that a sign of a good day is when we get up when our alarms go off for the first time. To help me get up in the morning, I found this list of tips that can help the night owl get out of bed.

Go to bed earlier

The first thing that your should try is to go to bed earlier. Your body needs a good night sleep and if you have trouble getting up in the mornings, it is often a sign that you are not having enough sleep.

No weekend sleep-ins

When you sleep in on the weekends, you are teaching your body that there are some days you can sleep in. It does not know that it is not allowed to sleep in on the weekdays. You should aim to never sleep in and let your body get used to the fact that when it is time to get up, you need to get up.

Always get up at the same time

Do not allow yourself to get up at 7am one day and 8am another. You need to teach your body when to wake up and it will not learn if you always get up at different times. Set your alarm clock to one time and never change it.

Alarm on other side of room

Try placing your alarm on the other side of the room. This means that when your alarm goes off, you will need to get out of your bed to turn the alarm clock off. At this stage, do not let yourself go back to bed.

Sing

Set your alarm clock to play your favorite radio station really loud. Don't pick one of these talk but shows, but a full music radio station. Sing a long to the next song to come on.

Recite something

If you have any speeches that you need to do that day, there will be no better time and no harder time to recite your speech. As your alarm clock goes off, start reciting.

2 alarm clocks far apart

Have 2 alarm clocks go off at the same time of separate corners of the room. This means that you will need to get up and go to both before you can get some peace and quiet.

Hide your alarm clock

If you use your cellphone as your alarm clock and it is loud enough, leave your cellphone in the pocket of you jeans at night so that in the morning you need to go through your pile of clothes, find your jeans and get your cellphone.

3 Deep breaths

Try taking 3 deep breaths when your alarm goes off. The idea is to get more oxygen into your blood and to get your lungs to go from small breaths while you are sleeping to the type of inhaling you get after you finish running. Be careful with this though as you do not want to over do it, hyperventilate and start feeling faint.

Stretch

When you yawn, you sometimes stretch your arms or legs out behind your head or in front. Just like you are yawning, try to stretch your arms and legs out. Do this when you hear your alarm go off and before turning it off to see if it helps you wake up.

Hold your breath

Take a deep breath and hold it. See how long you can hold your breath. Before you run out of air, take a second deep breath and see if you are more awake.

No Snooze

Physically remove the snooze button from your alarm or melt it so that it no longer works. The problem with this is that you will need to have enough know-how to devise a way to turn it off.

We do not fully understand why we sleep, but think that it restores the bodies energy supplies that have been depleted during the day. It is the time when the body does most of its repair work and when the body releases growth hormones in children. The required amount of sleep varies from person to person, but most need around about 8 hours.

What does sleep do?

• Gives the body time to repair
• Is the time when people grow
• Restores used energy supplies
• Allows us to to be more athletic

Symptoms of lack of sleep

• Lack of sleep affects our thinking
• Less coordination
• Feel more tired
• Difficult to make decisions
• May start to feel depressed

Tips for a good nights sleep

• Keep to a regular pattern of going to bed and getting up at the same time every day
• Make sure that your bed and bedroom are comfortable - not too hot, not too cold, not too noisy
• Get some exercise
  
• Stop drinking tea or coffee in the evening
  
• Don't drink a lot of alcohol
• Don't eat or drink a lot late at night
• If you've had a bad night, resist the temptation to sleep the next day
• Write things your are thinking about and then tell yourself to deal with it tomorrow
• If you can't sleep, read a book

Many people are surprised to learn that researchers have discovered a single treatment that improves memory, increases people's ability to concentrate, strengthens the immune system, and decreases people's risk of being killed in accidents. Sound to be good to be true? It gets even better. The treatment is completely free, even for people who have no health insurance. It also has no side effects. Finally, most people consider the treatment highly enjoyable. Would you try it?

You probably should. For most people, this treatment would consist of getting an extra 60-90 minutes of sleep each night. Both psychologists and psychiatrists have been arguing for years that one of the most significant and overlooked public health problems in the U.S. is that many American adults are chronically sleep deprived. That is, very few Americans regularly obtain the 8 or more hours of sleep that almost all adults need each night. The consequences of this chronic sleep deprivation can truly be disastrous. Laboratory experiments on the effects of sleep deprivation have shown that failing to get enough sleep dramatically impairs memory and concentration while increasing levels of stress hormones and disrupting the body's normal metabolism. Research outside the laboratory further suggests that long term sleep deprivation leads to greater susceptibility to motor vehicle accidents and may even lead to premature ageing.

This is important because research shows that many people are carrying a heavy "sleep debt" that they have built up from weeks, months, or even years of inadequate sleep. In experiments on sleep debt, researchers pay healthy volunteers to stay in bed for at least 14 hours a day for a week or more. Most people given this opportunity sleep about 12 hours a day for several days, sometimes longer - and then they settle into sleeping 7-9 hours per night. As William Dement (1999) put it, "this means … that millions of us are living a less than optimal life and performing at a less than optimal level, impaired by an amount of sleep debt that we're not even aware we carry."

But is carrying a sleep debt really so harmful? Careful experiments by psychologist David Dinges and others have shown that the answer is yes. Dinges and colleagues recruit healthy young volunteers who live continuously in Dinges's sleep laboratory for 10-20 days. By randomly assigning people to receive different amounts and patterns of sleep over time, by controlling people's access to stimulants such as caffeine, and by constantly monitoring people's physiological states (to document the amount of sleep that people are actually getting), Dinges has learned that people who get less than 8 hours sleep per night show pronounced cognitive and physiological deficits, including memory impairments, a reduced ability to make decisions, and dramatic lapses in attention. As sleep deprivation continues over time, these deficits only grow worse. Consistently failing to get enough sleep is the biological equivalent of consistently spending more money than you make. Napping can help reduce a sleep debt, for example, but there are also long term benefits to maintaining consistent, predictable sleep patterns. In addition, whereas naps do improve cognitive functioning after periods of sleep deprivation, they do not do much to repair the negative mood that results from sleep loss (see Dinges et al., 1988).

Many people argue that they get by just fine on very little sleep. However, research shows that only a tiny fraction of people can truly function well on less than 8 hours sleep per night. Dinges estimates that, over the long haul, perhaps 1 person in a thousand can function effectively on six or fewer hours of sleep per night. Many people who operate on chronic sleep debts end up napping during the day or fighting through long periods of sleepiness in the afternoon. Moreover, people who chronically fail to get enough sleep may actually be cutting their lives short. A lack of sleep taxes the immune system, and may even lead to disease and premature ageing. To make all of this worse, most people who are sleep deprived do not even realize it. If you get sleepy during long meetings or long drives, chances are you are chronically sleep deprived.

Significance

Estimates by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicate that drowsy or fatigued driving leads to more than 100,000 motor vehicle crashes per year. Even small disruptions in sleep can wreak havoc on human safety and performance. For example, in a nation-wide study of motor vehicle accidents occurring between 1986 and 1995, psychologist Stanley Coren (1998) studied the effects of the single hour of lost sleep that many Americans experience when they set their clocks forward every spring. The result? A 17% increase in traffic deaths on the Mondays following the time changes (compared with the Mondays before). Psychologists such as Gregory Hicks have observed similar findings. They focused specifically on alcohol-related traffic related fatalities and observed increases in the one-week window following changes to daylight savings time. It is harder to estimate the toll sleep deprivation takes on people's health, happiness, and productivity, but according to the National Sleep Foundation, the annual cost in lost worker productivity due to sleeplessness is about $18 billion dollars.

Practical Application

In light of the dramatic public health consequences of sleep deprivation and unhealthy sleep patterns, the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), in cooperation, with many partner organizations, established National Sleep Awareness Week, promoted each spring during the week when people set their clocks forward for daylight savings time. In 2003, the NSF reported that about 600 sleep centres in North America sponsored educational activities in their own local communities during National Sleep Awareness Week. Many U.S. states now educate drivers not only about the dangers of driving while intoxicated but also about the dangers of "driving while drowsy."

Sleep may be as natural as breathing and eating, but many of us find ourselves tossing and turning instead. Sleepless nights can be caused by a wide variety of factors, especially stress and your sleep environment.

Preparations

Instructions

• STEP 1: Avoid drinking coffee or other caffeinated beverages after noon.
• STEP 2: Eat dinner at least 3 hours before you go to bed, especially if it's a large meal. For a before-bed snack, try warm milk, yogurt or a banana.
• STEP 3: Relax. If you're tense at bedtime, take a warm bath with aromatherapy soaps, stretch, listen to music, meditate - whatever works for you.
• STEP 4: Stay away from the evening news right before bed. Stories of disasters and corruption can be stimulating and disruptive to sleep.
• STEP 5: Avoid the nightcap. Alcohol may help you fall asleep faster, but it can interfere with the quality of sleep.
• STEP 6: Don't drink any fluids right before going to bed. A full bladder may awaken you.
• STEP 7: Try to go to sleep at the same time every night to get your body into a routine.

Tips & Warnings

• Napping can interfere with nighttime sleep. If you're very tired, take a short nap before 2 p.m., but don't sleep for more than 30 minutes.
• Even though vigorous exercise should be avoided before bedtime, mild exercise, such as an after-dinner walk, may help you sleep better.
• If you're feeling very tense, try drinking herbal teas made from valerian, chamomile, oats, passionflower or balm, which are said to be natural sleep aids.

The Sleep Environment

Instructions

• STEP 1: Adjust the room temperature so it's slightly on the cool side. Rooms that are too hot or cold are less conducive to sleep.
• STEP 2: Darken the room. Draw your blinds or curtains to keep out streetlights.
• STEP 3: Sleep on a comfortable bed that gives you good support. Sleeping on a bed that's too hard, too soft or lumpy will have you waking up fatigued and with a backache.
• STEP 4: Use earplugs if the environment is noisy, or use a fan or a Sound Soother that creates "white noise." White noise is a soothing sound that blocks out more noxious noises.
• STEP 5: Focus your mind on pleasant thoughts as you drift off to sleep. Count sheep, count backward, or do whatever works best, but keep your mind off personal and work-related worries.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have trouble falling asleep, get up and do some light activity until you feel sleepy.
• Keep the light dim. Bright light will make you more alert.

Overall Tips & Warnings

• If you have any questions or concerns, contact a physician or other health care professional before engaging in any activity related to health and diet. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment.

Millions of people around the world begin their day with a cup of coffee, believing that they cannot wake up without it. However, there are other ways to get going in the morning - to wake up naturally, without a dependence on coffee.

Instructions

• STEP 1: Motivate yourself to give up coffee. Keep in mind that coffee drinkers tend to be more groggy and sleepy in the morning than nondrinkers. You will eventually feel more awake and energetic than when you needed coffee to start the day.
• STEP 2: Wean yourself slowly, especially if you drink several cups throughout the day.
• STEP 3: Caffeine is addictive, and you may have withdrawal symptoms if you stop too abruptly. Symptoms are usually mild to severe headaches, fatigue, nausea and depression.
• STEP 4: Gradually halve the amount of coffee you drink each day. For example, if you drink six cups a day, cut back to three, then one and a half, and so on. If you get withdrawal symptoms, do it more gradually.
• STEP 5: As another approach, gradually replace your caffeinated coffee with decaf. Drink the same number of cups, but increase the decaf and decrease the regular coffee until you are drinking 100 percent decaf.
• STEP 6: Get enough sleep at night. Most people need between 7 and 9 hours a night to feel rested.
• STEP 7: Maximize your sleep. Keep your room dark and cool, eliminate or minimize noise, and sleep on a comfortable bed.
• STEP 8: Speak to your doctor if you have problems with insomnia or other sleep disorders. Not sleeping soundly will keep you feeling groggy and tired in the morning.
• STEP 9: Open the shades and turn on the lights when you get up in the morning.
• STEP 10: Bright light signals your brain that it's time to wake up.
• STEP 11: Eat a high-protein breakfast. Some researchers believe that protein will wake you up and keep you energized.
• STEP 12: Avoid sugary pastries. They give you an energy surge and then a rapid slump.
• STEP 13: Work out in the morning. Exercise will give you more energy.
• STEP 14: Drink green tea if you still want some morning caffeine. It contains a much smaller amount than coffee, particularly drip coffee, and is a potent antioxidant and an all-around healthful drink.

Tips & Warnings

• Having an occasional cup of coffee will not get you hooked on the coffee habit again.

Coffee improves short-term memory and speeds up reaction times by acting on the brain’s prefrontal cortex, according to a new study.

Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine how coffee activates different areas of the brain in 15 volunteers.

“Caffeine modulates a higher brain function through its effects on distinct areas of the brain,” explains Florian Koppelstätter, who carried out the research with colleagues at the Medical University at Innsbruck, Austria.

Prior to testing, the group fasted for 4 to 6 hours, and abstained from caffeine and nicotine for at least 24 hours. Then they were then given either a cup of strong coffee – containing 100 milligrams of caffeine – or a caffeine-free placebo drink. After 20 minutes all participants underwent fMRI scans while carrying out a memory and concentration test. A few days afterwards the experiment was repeated under the same conditions but each received the other drink.

Executive memory

During the memory tests, participants were shown a fast sequence of capital letters, then flashed a single letter on a screen and told to decide quickly whether this letter was the same as the one which appeared second-to-last in the earlier sequence. They had to respond by pressing a “Y” for yes or “N” for no.

“The group all showed activation of the working memory part of the brain," Koppelstätter explains. "But those who received caffeine had significantly greater activation in parts of the prefrontal lobe, known as the anterior cingulate and the anterior cingulate gyrus. These areas are involved in 'executive memory', attention, concentration, planning and monitoring."

“This type of memory is used when, for example, you look up a telephone number in a book and then mentally store it before dialling,” he adds.

Pick-me-up

Koppelstätter stresses that the study is preliminary and that he has yet to discover how long the memory effects last or what other effects coffee has on brain function. He adds that the long-term impact of caffeine use is also an important consideration.

But he says the study shows that coffee has an effect on specific brain regions involved in memory and concentration that tallies with anecdotal evidence of the drink's “pick-me-up” effect.

Caffeine is known to influence adenosine receptors which are found throughout the brain on nerve cells and blood vessels. It is thought that the drug inhibits these receptors and that this excites the nerve cells in the brain. “This may be the mechanism involved,” suggests Koppelstätter.

The research was presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

There is nothing worse than arriving at your destination whether it's for business or vacation and being exhausted and over tired. In some cases the sleep that you will get on a plane is the only sleep you may have for that day so it's very important to get as good of a rest in as possible on the plane as you can.

Possibly the most important step to getting some sleep on the plane is your choice in seats. Asile seats are great if you plan on staying awake the entire flight, but if you want to sleep Murphy's Law says that as soon as you start to nod off someone will ask you to get up so that they can get out of your row to go to the bathroom or walk around. If you want to sleep, a window seat is the way to go. Not only will you not have to get up for other people but you can rest your head against the window and feel more comfortable that you won't end up leaning against or drooling on the stranger next to you.

If at all possible avoid the last row of the airplane, often times these seats do not recline and they are so close to the bathroom that you are constantly being woken up by noisy people and yucky smells. Typically, the closer you can get to the front the quieter the plane will be on most planes the rear of the plane is extremely noisy due to engine placement. Exit rows give you more legroom, however they're often some of the first rows to fully booked up so the chances of you having an open seat next to you are pretty slim.

Sometimes honesty is the best policy as you go to check in for your flight tell the gate agent you would like to get some sleep and ask them if there is a row available where you can have a window seat and no one next to, it can't hurt to ask.

Another important factor in getting some rest on a plane is what you're wearing. Try to dress comfortably and be prepared for the plane to either be too cold or too warm wearing layers will help a great deal in finding that ideal temperature to be able to fall a sleep easily.

Drinking doesn't help. In numerous sleep studies doctors have found that consuming alcohol actually inhibits your ability to fall asleep properly and the quality is so poor that you literally don't get any rest at all so avoid those cocktails in the bar before the flight if at all possible.

Bring your iPod and have soothing music preselected that can play for a long period of time without you having to adjust the controls of your iPod. If you have trouble sleeping to music bring earplugs. If you don't have earplugs but you have your iPod and you don't want to listen to music, wear the headphones anyways, this will keep annoying people from bothering you with conversation during the flight.

If you can think of it bring one of those neck donut pillows as they will help you get more comfortable and save your neck during a two hour nap on the plane. As goofy as the luck they really do make a difference and can really help.

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The road towards a journey of insomnia cures begins with a clear –cut understanding of what the condition entails. Firstly take note of the fact that the symptom of insomnia can be accompanied by various sleeps, psychiatric or medical disorders. This results in functional impairments.

Insomnia is a sleep disorder. There are various types of insomnia, transient insomnia, lasting days or weeks, acute insomnia, an inability to sleep for 3-6 months and chronic insomnia, lasting for years. The effects of chronic insomnia depend on the causes. There are various patterns of insomnia, onset insomnia, related to anxiety disorders making it difficult to fall asleep. The difficulty of falling off to sleep after awakening is termed nocturnal awakening, encompassing both terminal insomnia, which is an early morning awakening, and middle insomnia, which is waking up at night and not maintaining sleep.

Sleep rejuvenates the body. Unless the body is relaxed entirety it will not be an easy task to achieve insomnia cures. There are some basic guidelines for insomnia cures. Firstly avoid drinking of any stimulating drinks before bedtime including tea or coffee. Rather engage in a milk drink. After dinner smoking needs to be avoided. A healthy lifestyle filled with boundless physical activity will ensure constructive tired conditions. Easing your mind before bedtime with therapies such as yoga and meditation can calm the minds’ worries and tensions. Before seeking insomnia cures it is crucial to identify the causes, whether it is medical or psychological.

These are the methods towards insomnia cures:

Behavioral intervention: This entails the elimination of daytime naps, and avoiding bright light exposure at night. Do not use the bed for activities like reading or watching televisions and only for sleep or sexual activity. This is part of the therapy in stimulus control. Another stimulus control component is restricting sleep by maintaining a tight sleep schedule and only allowing sleep to take place at certain times for a certain time duration .A reframing technique is paradoxical intention. This technique is an effort to stay awake .This theory is related to the fact that too much emphasis or stress in trying to get sleep is relived resulting in sleep. Insomnia is related to lifestyle.

Cheerful people with positive outlooks are far less prone to the condition of insomnia than those that lead sedentary lifestyles. This condition interferes with human productivity as eternal fatigue descends on you, leaving you with far less energy to cope successfully with daily life deeds. Sleep hygiene include the timing of sleep, food intake, exercise, and sleep environment.

Cognitive behavior therapy (a psychotherapeutic approach used to solve problems of dysfunctional emotions), cognitions or behavior through a systematic, goal-oriented procedure) is far more effective in comparison to hypnotic medications to control insomnia. Improved sleeping habit cures insomnia. There are misconceptions revolving around the assumption of unrealistic sleep expectations of 8 hours each night, the misconception of the causes of insomnia, amplifies the after effects of insomnia and results in anxiety of controlling the sleep process.

Hypnotic medications are short-term insomnia cures with effects that do wear off after adaptation and tolerance. Cognitive behavioral therapy is sustainable and has long lasting effects; it demonstrates superiority in contrast to hypnotic pharmacological medication

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As you have so much to do, you start to sleep 6 hours a night. Little do you know, an 8 hour sleep could leave you with a better memory and improved recall.

Memorising things is hard. Through out or lives we are trying to memorise everything from events and history to exam answers and a plan for the future. Many students will spend all night trying to remember key facts for exams. It is ironic to think that sleep has such a large effect on memory and learning. All the students that spend all nighters to memorise answers may be doing more damage and be more forgetful than those who get a good nights sleep instead.

For insomniacs it may be sobering news that not only does a lack of sleep affect the memory and recall of exams answers, but also the memory of faces, sceneries, experiences, procedures, and many other things. Our memory of procedural and skills could be the most important and is also the most affected by sleep.

In order to counteract the effects of sleep, people drink coffee. Coffee has caffeine which helps to reduce the feeling of tiredness. The problem with coffee and ultimately caffeine is that all it is doing is masking the symptoms of a lack of sleep. It does not help to improve memory, recall or learning.

When you sleep, your brain tries to sort out all the memories and information from the previous day and file them for future retrieval. It goes through a process called memory consolidation. It is during this process that short-term memories from the day are set as long-term memories.

It is only after a 6 hour period of memory stabilization that memory consolidation occurs. This means that a 6 hour sleep will not have as much of an effect on your memory as an 8 hour sleep would.