This morsel comes from Sky News:

Scientists have found a way to turn on deep sleep at will using a machine that magnetically stimulates the brain.

A device worn on the head could in squeeze the benefit of eight hours’ sleep into just two or three hours.

Scientists in the US used a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to induce slow waves – indicative of the deepest phase of sleep and essential for learning ability and mood, in a group of sleeping volunteers.

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Daniel Martin from the UK’s Daily Mail brings us this interesting little scientific discovery:

If you’re facing a problem you can’t get your head around, you might be told to sleep on it. Now scientists have shown that the advice is more than just an old wives’ tale.

Apparently sleep strengthens the memory and helps the brain extract themes and rules from the masses of information we soak up during the day.

Lead researcher Bob Stickgold, professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, said: “We’re not just stabilizing memories during sleep. We’re extracting the meaning.

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1. Anything less than five minutes to fall asleep at night means you’re sleep deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you’re still tired enough to sleep deeply, but not so exhausted you feel sleepy by day.
2. A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost sleep for parents in the first year.
3. Tiny luminous rays from a digital alarm clock can be enough to disrupt the sleep cycle even if you do not fully wake. The light turns off a “neural switch” in the brain, causing levels of a key sleep chemical to decline within minutes.

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