Sleep Learning
- Can you learn languages in your sleep?
Hypnopaedia or sleep learning has been around long before Alex Huxley’s “Brave New World” popularized the term. The question is does it work, and if it does can you use it to learn languages?
Sleep learning:The idea is simple, listen to a repeating loop words or phrases in your target language at night.
The theory is, if you spend 8 hours sleeping this could be used for learning. Further, your brain is more receptive during this time as it does not have conscious filters and distractions.
Sleep learning: Scientific evidence
The studies on sleep learning do indicate a significant increase in recall of the target words, however, most of there studies are older and I would like to see newer studies with greater sample sizes, before I would conclude this is an effective method of learning.
Sleep Learning: The pragmatic reality.
This is based only on anecdotal evidence.
• Listening to a loop of words or phrases in your target language will significantly improve your pronunciation, whether asleep or awake. In order to be able to approximate or repeat sounds in a foreign language you need to hear these sounds over and over again.
• Listening to a loop of sounds might disturb your sleep if you listen at night
• Listening during a nap is the ideal, as it is not critical sleep and you achieve the same if not better results.
• Sleep learning does help, but as a supplement to active learning, that is testing and retesting and drilling.
Sleep learning: Alternative ideas
1) Use brain waves to after studying to produce a similar state of openness and regeneration.
2) Study words 20 minutes before you fall asleep and for 10 minutes when you wake up review the list. Memory solidification occurs during sleep.
3) As you are drifting to sleep in your mind review the words you learned that day.
4) Listen to a loop of words as you sleep- you can try and I would be curious to hear about your results.
1 responses to Sleep learning
Who ever wrote this should be smacked in the face for calling Aldous Huxley “Alex”. Otherwise, the article is pretty good at overstating the obvious and admitting there is no actual knowledge of the subject from the author by saying “You can try and I would be curious to hear about your results”. One who knows, asks no testimonials.
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