<p>You might not be looking for an answer about sleep deprivation per se—you might just be interested in normal daily fatigue immediately before normal sleep—but of course sleep deprivation results in tiredness, so the answer seems likely to be equivalent (though I'm not a sleep researcher by specialty). Here's an answer for sleep deprivation and memory (<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc2656292/" rel="nofollow">Alhola &amp; Polo-Kantola, 2007</a>):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Total [<strong>sleep deprivation] impairs</strong> attention and <strong>working memory</strong>, but it also affects other functions, such as <strong>long-term memory</strong> and decision-making.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>And another equivalent answer (<a href="http://www.med.upenn.edu/uep/user_documents/Cheeetal--Functionalimagingofworkingmemory--NeuroImage2006.pdf" rel="nofollow">Chee, Chuah, Venkatraman, Chan, Philip, &amp; Dinges, 2006</a>):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Performance <strong>accuracy declined significantly</strong> during the performance of...<strong>working memory tasks following [sleep deprivation]</strong>.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Reference</strong></p>

<p>Alhola, P., &amp; Polo-Kantola, P. (2007). Sleep deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance. <em>Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 3</em>(5), 553–567. Retrieved from <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc2656292/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc2656292/</a>.</p>

<p>Chee, M. W., Chuah, L. Y., Venkatraman, V., Chan, W. Y., Philip, P., &amp; Dinges, D. F. (2006). Functional imaging of working memory following normal sleep and after 24 and 35 h of sleep deprivation: Correlations of fronto-parietal activation with performance. <em>Neuroimage, 31</em>(1), 419–428. Retrieved from <a href="http://www.med.upenn.edu/uep/user_documents/Cheeetal--Functionalimagingofworkingmemory--NeuroImage2006.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.med.upenn.edu/uep/user_documents/Cheeetal--Functionalimagingofworkingmemory--NeuroImage2006.pdf</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-12T05:57:23.497Z
2014-02-12T05:57:23.497Z
Nick Stauner
<p><strong>Background.</strong> It happens often that, at the end of the day when I return to home, I try to recall past events that took place that day or the day before (memory rehearsal), but surprisingly I find that I have lost almost all details about some of them: while some  details are kept "in good state", other are altered (false memory: wrong order of events, memory gaps, inconsistent and incoherent memories), and the rest are forgotten! Boundaries between details are blurred! Such things happen when I'm tired. </p>

<p>On the one hand, if I don't try to recall events, e.g. when I postpone such practice to a later moment (after resting), I will forget some details as I have wasted time.</p>

<p>On the other hand, when I try to rehearse some memories that happened the same day, it seems that the biological state of tiredness affects the ability to recall in such a manner that details become altered and false memories are produced (again a loss of information)! Both cases are bad, but which one is the worse?</p>

<p>The point of this question is to know whether the biological state of tiredness can definitely alter some critical events when we try to recall.</p>

<p>Should we avoid trying to recall events when we are tired?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-11T13:49:40.913Z
I have no idea what you are referring to. Could you elaborate/clarify, preferably entirely rewrite, the second paragraph please?
Steven Jeuris
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-11T14:33:29.063Z
Are you asking if recalling the events of a day at even a later time, leads to more memory loss?
Mien
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-11T14:48:08.630Z
have you ever experienced loss of memory when you are tired?
jihed gasmi
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-11T15:11:27.847Z
So, _"Can tiredness lead to remembering events differently than how they really happened?"_ If that is your question, please update the title and content accordingly.
Steven Jeuris
<memory><arousal>
Is it good practice to try to recall things when we are tired?
jihed gasmi
# Is it good practice to try to recall things when we are tired?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-02-11)

**Background.** It happens often that, at the end of the day when I return to home, I try to recall past events that took place that day or the day before (memory rehearsal), but surprisingly I find that I have lost almost all details about some of them: while some details are kept "in good state", other are altered (false memory: wrong order of events, memory gaps, inconsistent and incoherent memories), and the rest are forgotten! Boundaries between details are blurred! Such things happen when I'm tired.

On the one hand, if I don't try to recall events, e.g. when I postpone such practice to a later moment (after resting), I will forget some details as I have wasted time.

On the other hand, when I try to rehearse some memories that happened the same day, it seems that the biological state of tiredness affects the ability to recall in such a manner that details become altered and false memories are produced (again a loss of information)! Both cases are bad, but which one is the worse?

The point of this question is to know whether the biological state of tiredness can definitely alter some critical events when we try to recall.

Should we avoid trying to recall events when we are tired?

**Tags:** memory, arousal

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I have no idea what you are referring to. Could you elaborate/clarify, preferably entirely rewrite, the second paragraph please?  
> **username_2**: Are you asking if recalling the events of a day at even a later time, leads to more memory loss?  
> **username_0**: have you ever experienced loss of memory when you are tired?  
> **username_1**: So, _"Can tiredness lead to remembering events differently than how they really happened?"_ If that is your question, please update the title and content accordingly.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2014-02-12. Score: 2

You might not be looking for an answer about sleep deprivation per se—you might just be interested in normal daily fatigue immediately before normal sleep—but of course sleep deprivation results in tiredness, so the answer seems likely to be equivalent (though I'm not a sleep researcher by specialty). Here's an answer for sleep deprivation and memory ([Alhola & Polo-Kantola, 2007](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc2656292/)):

> Total [**sleep deprivation] impairs** attention and **working memory**, but it also affects other functions, such as **long-term memory** and decision-making.

And another equivalent answer ([Chee, Chuah, Venkatraman, Chan, Philip, & Dinges, 2006](http://www.med.upenn.edu/uep/user_documents/Cheeetal--Functionalimagingofworkingmemory--NeuroImage2006.pdf)):

> Performance **accuracy declined significantly** during the performance of...**working memory tasks following [sleep deprivation]**.

**Reference**

Alhola, P., & Polo-Kantola, P. (2007). Sleep deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance. *Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 3*(5), 553–567. Retrieved from <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc2656292/>.

Chee, M. W., Chuah, L. Y., Venkatraman, V., Chan, W. Y., Philip, P., & Dinges, D. F. (2006). Functional imaging of working memory following normal sleep and after 24 and 35 h of sleep deprivation: Correlations of fronto-parietal activation with performance. *Neuroimage, 31*(1), 419–428. Retrieved from <http://www.med.upenn.edu/uep/user_documents/Cheeetal--Functionalimagingofworkingmemory--NeuroImage2006.pdf>.


---

