Is it true the brain is more active at night than during the day?

Yes, I am a big believer in subliminal programming. I fall asleep with various teaching CDs playing every night for optimum infiltration of the subconscious.
Research has shown that the optimal time for studying of any kind is just before sleep for maximum retention in a deep and relaxed subconscious state of mind. This is why hypnotherapy is so effective for those that are receptive.

@Coloma Is this to say, when we are awake, something else is controlling what information we want to hear? Or is the side of the brain that is in charge of “editing” just not as active at night.

@auhsojsa

Ego is huge, it takes a lot to burn through it.
Most people are trapped in their programing during their “conscious” hours, which is really a joke, because true consciousness must be overcome on an egoic level not just subliminally.

“Brain is much more active at night than during the day. Reasonably, you would imagine that all the general interaction , moving around, tasks and complicated calculations and we do on a every day during our working hours takes a lot more brain power than, lying in bed. When you turn off your brain turns on.”

Health Solutions

I think its possible because other activities come to play as we sleep. One, is dreaming. Ever just fall asleep and then wake up 5 minutes later and it seems to practically be a novel by the time you say ever thing that happened in a dream. I think, we can think faster because there are fewer distractions. Like a computer I think we are fast at downloading than uploading.
Plus all kind or physical repairs come into play at night. Where do you think the signals for all of this starts and ends. In our brain.
There is also the fact that we are more sensitive to sound, touch, and hearing at night because there are less distractions. When your asleep and you find yourself sweaty in the morning with the blankets kicked off, its because your brain still stays aware of your surroundings. Awake you make a concious decision and asleep your brain still knows what must be done to lower your body temperature. I find the most interesting thing is how we may know what time it is when we wake. When I’m on a regular bed schedule I can wake up at 3 or 4 or what ever time and know exactly what time my clock will say it is. Yet, during the day I may be off an hour or two if I haven’t looked at the clock all day. And mostly I have a general idea of time of the day by where the sun is at. At night, there are no clues in a dark room and yet I know what time it is before I look at the clock.
You may be interested on reading this article

I would doubt it. During the day the brain is processing huge amounts of visual, aural, and other sensory data. It is also continually controlling the body’s posture and movement. It is anticipating future events and communicating internally within itself and externally with others. When we sleep the brain’s consciousness closes down and the mind is in hibernation. The brain is still functioning but at a greatly reduced level.

No. But it’s not necessarily less active either.

@marinelife – I’m not sure about the validity of the link you provided. Did you see the “About HS” section?

First of all, when we refer to brain activity, what do we mean? Electrical activity measured by an EEG? Use of glucose and oxygen? Number of neurons firing in the neocortex?

When it comes to the human brain a lot of myths are being floated around, like Einstein’s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_percent_myth

Scientists have already learned a great deal about sleep and memory consolidation. You can find good articles about it here

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=sleep+hippocampus+memory&hl=en

Sleep seems critical for learning.