CHARMAINE KERRIDGE
BIZ/TECH REPORTER

Sleep-learning, a popular movement from the 50s and 60s, is regaining popularity, but Humber staff say students looking to absorb a semester’s worth of material should be leery of the technology.
Shivon Raghunandan, a counsellor with student services, said she would rather students learn the old fashioned way.
“Using tapes, the actual essence of learning is missing,” Raghunandan said. “I worry that the actual process of learning – reading, note taking, absorbing abstract information – all that would be missing and that is learning itself.”
Internet marketing firms sell sleep-learning CDs that claim to help people learn by embedding information into their subconscious while they sleep.

Sleep deprived Humber student takes naps in the L wing. (Charmaine Kerridge)

Pillows that have speakers wedged inside them and CDs that let the mind absorb information while the body is at rest are among the products listed on websites devoted to the technology.
“It would be too easy if it worked,” said Thom Herrmann, a psychology professor at Guelph-Humber.
“Bad ideas never die. They just come back in another way.”
The phenomenon of sleep-learning, also known as hypnotic learning, was a fad that was popular 40 years ago, but it was proven to be ineffective for retaining information, Herrmann said.
None of the many sites selling the sleep-learning CDs disclose that researchers have discredited the learning process.
“Your brain is wired so that you’ve got to tune out what’s around you to fall asleep,” said Barry Baichoo, a technician in the sleep lab at Toronto General Hospital. “White noise will keep you awake. When there is any disturbance you will not go to sleep or sleep is not maintained. So you either sleep or learn, not both.”
Students are encouraged to use the school’s resources to manage information overload.
“We can offer students learning strategies,” said Raghunandan. “We can refer students to learning skills counselling to learn strategies of how to learn effectively.”