12 psychological sleep studies (PsyBlog)

I don't need to curate a list of blog posts on sleep from around the web because PsyBlog already did it! They link to twelve research studies that demonstrate:

1. Tricking your consciousness into thinking that you had a good night's sleep improves daytime functioning.
2. During sleep, the mind reorganizes and restructures memories.
3. Sleep quality is cyclic and is influenced by the lunar calendar.
4. Sleep deprivation leads to less self control, so people running on little sleep eat more junk food.
5. You can hone what you already know, such as brushing up on music, during sleep but cannot learn something new.
6. Don't have enough time for a nap? Even six minutes is beneficial.
7. Night owls have different neuronal structures than early risers, which makes them more susceptible to "depression and cognitive instability."
8. Children with regular bedtimes have higher cognitive function than those with irregular bedtimes.
9. Adolescents need a lot of sleep (duh).
10. Learning a new skill? People are sharper at executing it after sleep.
11. Poor sleep is damaging to relationships.
12. So what happens, really, during sleep? The cerebrospinal fluid that bathes your brain is flushed out, removing toxins that accumulated during the day.

I have a hard time believing some of these conclusions, like the moon's phase influencing sleep, but am glad that science backs up a lot of our hunches, such as the amount of sleep that adolescents need.