The Role of Sleep in Memory Consolidation

When we are awake, it's really hard to spend time with information that you've already taken in. So during sleep states, our brain is optimally suited to consolidate because there's no due information coming in and there's no demands for you to recall information in the environment. We know all of that consolidation is really happening in the brain, but what is the role of the periphery in ensuring that information can be consolidated well? And so when we account for cardiovascular activity, particularly that heart rate variability, how flexible our heart rate is, we are able to account for more variance in memory outcomes than if we just look at traditional central nervous system outcomes.