The age of cassettes has long been gone but today, memories of these once famous music and audio storage devices have been in the market. Some are used as recycled pieces and some as designs but if you want something to help you rest and sleep better, the Mymini Black Cassette Pillows should be something cool to have.

Made for the retro-loving people, the Mymini Black Cassette pillows are mini pillows should be great sleep aids for the kids and the kids at heart. Each pillow has been printed on 100% cotton and stuffed with 100% fiberfill. Available over at Etsy, they are available for just $18 a pop.

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For the people who love odd stuff, here is a cuckoo clock that should fit the bill. This is actually a project put up over at the National Museum of Singapore by the Little Thoughts Group which will be up until January, 2011.

This is actually a clock of memories where it recalls the designers time as a child in 1970’s Singapore, where the sounds of growing up are now instilled inside the clocks works. The number “5″ is mirrored in the clock’s face because the designer had some mishaps with the number.

The white wind-up key is held on with a magnet and can open the clock body from the side. Inside the clock, you will find the batteries and some nice shelves.

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It has been common logic for most of us to play some music to sleep and while we sleep. The first is of course to lull us to sleep while the second is to relax us and get our minds as calm as possible. But it seems that the latter seems to do more than that. Playing music while sleeping has been said to improve memory, especially for students who are preparing for an exam or test the next day.

Scientists at Northwestern University report that playing specific sounds while people slept helped them remember more of what they had learned before they fell sleep, to the point where memories of individual facts were enhanced. Playing music while sleeping has been known to reap some rewards. This was normally practiced for babies in the developmental stages. Apparently it works further than that. I wonder if it works on older people too?

Image Credits: NY Daily News

(Source) NY Times

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Perhaps this logic comes from the common understanding that when you sleep, it means your brain is resting. And when you are resting it allows you to properly digest what had transpired as well as current events on a clear mind.

In research published this week in Neuron, Marcos Frank, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, postdoctoral researcher Sara Aton, PhD, and colleagues describe for the first time how cellular changes in the sleeping brain promote the formation of memories.

“This is the first real direct insight into how the brain, on a cellular level, changes the strength of its connections during sleep,” Frank says.

The findings, says Frank, reveal that the brain during sleep is fundamentally different from the brain during wakefulness.

(Source) Examiner

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If you look at it, it is like downloading videos from you video camera. All the events that have transpired are replayed and stored, making your memory storage entirely wider. This is perhaps one reason why sleeping is a good time to rest for the body but not the brain. It still functions without our knowledge and it does some things we least expect.

Researchers in the United States have carried out a study and found while you sleep, your brain remains busy in strengthening the memories of what you did during the day and it does it in quick spurts, as if your day was being replayed in fast-forward.

“The brain’s medial prefrontal cortex replays daytime activities during sleep six to seven times faster than real time,” the WebMD reported, quoting lead researcher Dr David Euston was quoted as saying.

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