A Midday Nap Boosts Your Brain's Learning Capacity

New research 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 also can make you smarter.

Conversely, the more hours you spend awake, the more sluggish your mind becomes. The results support previous data, which found that pulling an all-nighter decreases your ability to cram in new facts by nearly 40 percent, due to a shutdown of brain regions during sleep deprivation.

These findings reinforce the hypothesis that sleep is needed to clear your brain's short-term memory storage and make room for new information.

Sources:
Eurekalert February 21, 2010

Important Notice: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your community pharmacist or physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.