Sleeping Shrinks the Brain … and That's a Good Thing

Ah, to sleep, perchance … to shrink your neural connections? That's the conclusion of new research that examined subtle changes in the brain during sleep.

The researchers found that sleep provides a time when the brain's synapses — the connections among neurons — shrink back by nearly 20 percent. During this time, the synapses rest and prepare for the next day, when they will grow stronger while receiving new input — that is, learning new things, the researchers said.

http://www.livescience.com/57740-sle...-synapses.html