Sleep has been known to be an important component to brain function and memory for some time. A recent study on sleep and learning conducted by Dr. Walker, University of California Berkeley provides further support.
The study involved 39 healthy young persons who were placed into a nap or no nap group. At noon, all subjects completed a memory task intended to engage the hippocampus, a region deep in the medial temporal lobe responsible for learning new fact based information. Both groups performed equally on this test.
At 2pm, the nap group took a 90 minute nap while the no-nap group did not. At 6pm of that day, subjects completed a new memory task. Those who remained awake throughout the day performed worse on the task while those who napped did markedly better and actually improved in their capacity to learn.
Some scientists suggest the human animal is designed to sleep in bouts rather than one long period of time which supports taking naps. About 30% of Americans nap during the mid-day. The study’s results support the idea that sleep clears the brain’s short-term memory storage and creates the ability for new information to be learned. Napping may serve as a type of “rebooting” process, particularly when nappers enter stage two of their natural sleep cycle.
Results are preliminary and further research will be done to support these findings. However, scientists continue to help understand the sleep and its critical role in memory and brain health.