The Secret to Learning Language is Sleep, Study Shows

Sleeping can enhance learning and language acquisition. Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock

A new study by the University of South Australia has found certain events during sleep to aide those who are learning a new language.

The participants from the study consisted of 35 native English-speaking adults who learned a “miniature language” called Mini Pinyin, which is based on Mandarin (Chinese) but uses grammatical rules similar to English.

Half the participants studied the miniature language in the morning and were tested in the evening, while the other half studied in the evening, then slept overnight, and were tested the following morning. The study found those who slept fared much better than those who stayed awake.

Lead researcher, Zachariah Cross, said the improvements were related to slow oscillations and sleep spindles, two brainwaves patterns that synchronise during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.

These brainwave patterns are believed to be involved in the consolidation of memory, according to a review published in the Nature Neuroscience journal. The patterns can be detected using electroencephalography, a test which measures electrical activity in the brain.

“This coupling likely reflects the transfer of learned information from the hippocampus to the cortex, enhancing long-term memory storage,” Cross said in a press release.

“Post-sleep neural activity showed unique patterns of theta oscillations associated with cognitive control and memory consolidation, suggesting a strong link between sleep-induced brainwave co-ordination and learning outcomes.”

Sleep is Important for Learning

The study’s co-author, Scott Coussens, said the study emphasises the important role of sleep in learning language and linguistics.

“By demonstrating how specific neural processes during sleep support memory consolidation, we provide a new perspective on how sleep disruption impacts language learning,” Coussens said. “Sleep is not just restful; it’s an active, transformative state for the brain.”

The benefits of sleep are not limited to just language learning.

According to a separate study, sleep is important in consolidating information and knowledge, giving time to transfer knowledge from the hippocampus (the brain’s memory centre) to the cortex (the rest of the brain).

Are We Sleeping Well?

These findings have highlighted the importance of sleep, but it also poses the question of whether we are sleeping enough.

For instance, a report (pdf) by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) draws attention to the prevalence of sleep problems and how they affect chronic health conditions.

The report states that over a quarter (27 percent) of 12- to 13-year-olds are not meeting the minimum requirement of 9 to 11 hours of sleep, which jumps to 52 percent for 16- to 17-year-olds.

In adults, sleep problems have been linked to chronic conditions such as diabetes, chronic heart disease (CHD), and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Factors such as unemployment, low socio-economic status, working night-shifts are all factors that contribute to lack of sleep and poor sleep quality.

The AIHW report attributes sufficient and high quality sleep to better cognitive functioning, workplace performance, and self-reported life satisfaction (pdf).