A midday nap can keep us mentally sharp, and may even make us smarter. It seems to wipe clean the 'memory tape' and allows us to cope better with new challenges, a new study among students has discovered. 'Even staying awake throughout the day, as most of us do, can mean we are not so efficient if we need to carry out a new task in the early evening, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have discovered.
They tested the benefits of the midday nap on a group of 39 students, who either had a 90-minute nap in the middle of the day or stayed awake all day. But when both groups were asked to perform a new round of learning exercises at 6pm, the ‘nap group’ dramatically outperformed the 'no-nap' group.
The researchers believe that a nap helps to clear the brain’s short-term memory store and makes room for new information, says lead researcher Matthew Walker.'
(Source: Annual meeting of the American Association of the Advancement of Science, San Diego, California. February 21, 2010).
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