A midday nap markedly boosts the brain's learning capacity

University of California - Berkeley ^ | Feb 21, 2010 | Unknown

[decimon]

Findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter

If you see a student dozing in the library or a co-worker catching 40 winks in her cubicle, don't roll your eyes. New research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that an hour's nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter.

Conversely, the more hours we spend awake, the more sluggish our minds become, according to the findings. The results support previous data from the same research team that pulling an all-nighter – a common practice at college during midterms and finals –- decreases the ability to cram in new facts by nearly 40 percent, due to a shutdown of brain regions during sleep deprivation.

"Sleep not only rights the wrong of prolonged wakefulness but, at a neurocognitive level, it moves you beyond where you were before you took a nap," said Matthew Walker, an assistant professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the lead investigator of these studies.

In the recent UC Berkeley sleep study, 39 healthy young adults were divided into two groups – nap and no-nap. At noon, all the participants were subjected to a rigorous learning task intended to tax the hippocampus, a region of the brain that helps store fact-based memories. Both groups performed at comparable levels.

At 2 p.m., the nap group took a 90-minute siesta while the no-nap group stayed awake. Later that day, at 6 p.m., participants performed a new round of learning exercises. Those who remained awake throughout the day became worse at learning. In contrast, those who napped did markedly better and actually improved in their capacity to learn.

These findings reinforce the researchers' hypothesis that sleep is needed to clear the brain's short-term memory storage and make room for new information, said Walker, who is presenting his preliminary findings on Sunday, Feb. 21, at the annual meeting of the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in San Diego, Calif.

Since 2007, Walker and other sleep researchers have established that fact-based memories are temporarily stored in the hippocampus before being sent to the brain's prefrontal cortex, which may have more storage space.

"It's as though the e-mail inbox in your hippocampus is full and, until you sleep and clear out those fact e-mails, you're not going to receive any more mail. It's just going to bounce until you sleep and move it into another folder," Walker said.

In the latest study, Walker and his team have broken new ground in discovering that this memory- refreshing process occurs when nappers are engaged in a specific stage of sleep. Electroencephalogram tests, which measure electrical activity in the brain, indicated that this refreshing of memory capacity is related to Stage 2 non-REM sleep, which takes place between deep sleep (non-REM) and the dream state known as Rapid Eye Movement (REM). Previously, the purpose of this stage was unclear, but the new results offer evidence as to why humans spend at least half their sleeping hours in Stage 2, non-REM, Walker said.

"I can't imagine Mother Nature would have us spend 50 percent of the night going from one sleep stage to another for no reason," Walker said. "Sleep is sophisticated. It acts locally to give us what we need."

Walker and his team will go on to investigate whether the reduction of sleep experienced by people as they get older is related to the documented decrease in our ability to learn as we age. Finding that link may be helpful in understanding such neurodegenerative conditions as Alzheimer's disease, Walker said.

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In addition to Walker, co-investigators of these new findings are UC Berkeley post-doctoral fellow Bryce A. Mander and psychology undergraduate Sangeetha Santhanam.

[decimon]

For chance to dream ping.

[Recon Dad]

As a retired outside salesman who operated from his home for 35 years we had what was known as the 12 to 2 rule between sales people. Do not call me between those hours.

(I've since learned that some of my colleagues have extended the rule to a 10 to 2 rule)

Believe me I had the greatest job in the world..

[Daisyjane69]

A school nurse I met, while visiting a relative who worked at a school, told me (as I was holding my then, six month old son):

“When he takes his midday nap, you take a nap, too. If we Americans would just take a brief nap each day, we would add between 5-10 years to our lives.”

Didn’t know if it was true, but I always remembered it.

[lafroste]

I have always considered the siesta to be Spain’s one indisputable contribution to mankind. I try to take a nap every day for at least an hour. It makes the afternoon so much more productive.

[paulycy]

A midday nap markedly boosts the brain's learning capacity

Well then I must be a human info sponge. After Rush is over.

[decimon]

Well then I must be a human info sponge. After Rush is over.

Hannity is your Sominex. Got it. ;-)

[paulycy]

Hannity is your Sominex. Got it. ;-)

ROFL!

[Daffynition]

[scooby321]

I didn’t think it true but last three years , I have done so and never felt better.

[Tainan]

I believe this...but, I’m grumpy as he!! when I wake back up.

[doberville]

I've always learned that all growth and healing occur during sleep.

No matter how horrible the situation, things are always remarkably improved if I can get to sleep.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

For you masochists out there, I once learned the technique for how to get all the sleep you need each day with just cat naps. And how to “power sleep”.

While seated, you rest your head on one of your arms on a table. Allow the other arm to hang down, with a pencil in your curled fingers. When you nod off, your fingers relax and the pencil hits the floor, waking you up. Doing this for a few minutes, eight times a day, is all the sleep you need. However...

Unless you absolutely have to stay awake to do something, you are going to be bored out of your mind. You will have such an abundance of free time that it will bug the heck out of you. The most I’ve done it for was two weeks. It makes you realize how *enjoyable* and pleasant it is to just lie in bed, even if you’re not sleeping.

As far as “power sleeping” goes, it is much simpler. Just learn how to sleep while sitting in a comfortable chair. It is far more restful than when you are lying down, possibly because your breathing is easier and deeper. One hour sleeping upright is worth about 2-4 hours of sleeping in recline.

[neverdem]

thanks decimon