Making faster and better musical progress through sleep? That sounds too good to be true. However, sleep is indeed crucial for learning and particularly for motor learning. So, how can sleep be optimally utilized for musical success?
We spend 24 years, one-third of our lives, sleeping, based on an average life expectancy of 80 years. In contrast, only about 8 years are dedicated to work activities. The need for sleep is highest in infants shortly after birth, stabilizes during adulthood, and then either significantly increases or decreases with age. In Western countries, the average sleep requirement is around 7-8 hours per day, although individual sleep needs can vary widely. What matters is determining the amount of sleep at which one is most productive. However, it should not be underestimated that one can become accustomed to insufficient sleep and thus underestimate the actual higher sleep requirement. One can get a good indication of how much sleep one truly needs by sleeping without an alarm clock for several days during vacation.
Sleep and Learning
Many mysteries about how the brain benefits from sleep have not yet been unraveled, but one thing is clear: sleep is indispensable for any kind of learning and therefore crucial for learning success.
Learning is broadly categorized based on the type of material being learned: "declarative" learning refers to the acquisition of knowledge, facts, and similar information that is taught and absorbed intellectually, such as in school or university. In contrast, "procedural" learning involves acquiring sequences of actions, such as motor learning. This includes not only playing musical instruments but also driving a car, riding a bicycle, or other highly automated processes or programs. Both types of learning can occur with limited conscious awareness (explicit) or without conscious awareness (implicit), although declarative learning naturally tends to be more explicit (e.g., explicit memory strategies, memorizing something), while procedural learning is more implicit. Declarative learning can occur rapidly (either implicitly, e.g., through strong emotions, or explicitly, through strong interest/motivation), sometimes through a single learning event. Procedural memory typically requires repetitions to establish automatically executed programs, as these programs need to be anchored in deeper brain structures. However, the explicit direction of attention and concentration during movement practice can expedite the process.
During the average 7 to 8 hours of sleep we have each day, the brain goes through various sleep stages. The first few hours are usually dominated by deep sleep, known as slow-wave sleep due to the slow brainwaves measured during this period. Towards the end of the night, in the last 2-3 hours, there is an increasing occurrence of REM sleep, characterized by rapid eye movements (hence the name). Several studies have shown that declarative knowledge is consolidated more during deep sleep, while procedural learning likely occurs during REM sleep. REM sleep is also the phase in which we experience vivid dreams and practice the movements of the day. Participants in studies on motor learning tasks performed worse when deprived of REM sleep. The administration of anticholinergic substances also hampers the benefits of REM sleep, as acetylcholine (ACh) is important for neural signal transmission during the day and especially during REM sleep. This further supports the notion that procedural learning takes place during REM sleep.
If we sleeping too little or generally poorly, the brain misses these sleep phases that are so important for motor learning. Motor learning still takes place, but it cannot be accelerated, and the movements learned during the day are not "consolidated" or stabilized in memory during sleep. Such learning usually requires longer breaks between learning sessions to achieve the same level of success (see future episodes on the importance of breaks). On the other hand, declarative learning, which musicians, for example, require to analytically understand music pieces, memorize them, play them from memory, and retain creative and artistic aspects in memory, primarily occurs during deep sleep. If we sleep at the wrong time, go to bed at irregular times, or have trouble falling asleep due to time zone changes or stress, the necessary deep sleep at the beginning of the night also suffers.
[See also: Break you brain - the inspiring power of breaks]
The best musicians take power naps
As early as 1993, the research group led by Karl Ericsson showed that the best musicians not only slept longer at night compared to their less successful colleagues but also took more frequent and longer naps during the day. Although the methodology of that study is partly criticized today due to methodological weaknesses, its results have been replicated multiple times. Stuard Wilson & Joseph Baker found significantly more daytime and nighttime sleep among the best athletes in a sports study, as well as among young talents. And it gets even better! The significance of sleep for motor learning has been demonstrated in many studies using motor learning experiments. For example, the research group led by Matthew Tucker had musicians and non-musicians learn and tap finger sequences (a so-called "tapping" experiment) and found that sleep improved motor performance the next day in both groups. The absolute improvement was greatest among musicians, and sleep deprivation had the most significant impact on non-musicians. However, both groups showed better motor performance with sleep. Another study by the group led by Amy Simmons examined professional musicians with a more challenging task (12-tone piano melodies) and showed that the regularity of finger movements also significantly benefited from sleep.
However, the benefit and importance of sleep for motor learning also depend on the type of practice. A study by the research group led by Kenichi Kuriyama showed that motor tasks of any difficulty level improved overnight (became faster), but the most difficult tasks benefited the most (17.8% compared to 1.4%). This may explain why musicians performed better in Matthew Tucker's study - for them, a tapping task is relatively easy since they are accustomed to such movements from playing musical instruments. The implication of this study is that motor sequences, especially difficult or new ones, are best practiced during periods when you have enough time for sleep.
It goes without saying that incorrectly learned movements also become incorrectly anchored in the brain.
[See also: Break you brain - the inspiring power of breaks]
Achieving Musical Success with Sleep
Paying attention to sufficient sleep not only benefits physical and mental fitness but also motor learning. This can directly and indirectly improve musical success within one's own capabilities. Admittedly, in the music business, irregular daily routines, tight schedules, and extensive travel across time zones are major causes of stress and poor or insufficient sleep. However, the fact that motor learning can also be improved through power naps during the day is a good sign. Additionally, various psychological relaxation methods are available to reduce stress and improve nighttime sleep.
[See also: Stress in Musicians - Signs, Mechanisms and Coping Strategies & Relaxation before concerts - a guided self soothing tutorial ]
By the way, cats sleep about 12-16 hours a day, almost twice as much as humans. Perhaps that's why they are such skilled hunters because their smaller brains, compared to the human brain, can learn movements and their coordination much more efficiently. :-)
Sources and Literature for further reading
Born, J., Rasch, B., & Gais, S. (2006). Sleep to remember. The Neuroscientist, 12(5), 410-424.
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the
acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363–406.
Kuriyama, K., Stickgold, R., & Walker, M. P. (2004). Sleep-dependent learning and motor-skill complexity. Learning & memory, 11(6), 705-713.
Tucker, M. A., Nguyen, N., & Stickgold, R. (2016). Experience playing a musical instrument and overnight sleep enhance performance on a sequential typing task. PLoS One, 11(7), e0159608.
Simmons, A. L., & Duke, R. A. (2006). Effects of sleep on performance of a keyboard melody. Journal of Research in Music Education, 54(3), 257-269.
Wilson, S. G., & Baker, J. (2018). Deliberate recovery: Exploring the relationship between expertise and sleep quantity in athletes. Reviews in the Neurosciences, 17(4), 375-392.
Good work pays off...