888-765-5400NAPS IMPROVE MEMORY
According to a recent article from The New Times, napping may improve your memory. In a world where everyone seems to be sleep deprived, we certainly can benefit from a little extra sleep once in a while. Not only do we feel better, but maybe we can improve our memory as well!
“Take a nap. Interrupting sleep seriously disrupts memory-making, compelling new research suggests. But on the flip side, taking a nap may boost a sophisticated kind of memory that helps us see the big picture and get creative. Over time, a chronic lack of sleep can erode the body in ways that leave us more vulnerable to heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses. But perhaps more common than insomnia is fragmented sleep- the easy awakening that comes with aging, or worse, the sleep apnea that afflicts millions, whop quit breathing for 30 seconds or so over and over throughout the night. Indeed, scientists increasingly are focusing less on sleep duration and more on the quality of sleep, what’s called sleep intensity, in studying how sl of the sleep helps the brain process memories so they stick. Particularly important is “slow-wave sleep,” a period of very deep sleep that comes earlier than better-known REM sleep, or dreaming time. Dr. William Fishbein suspected a more active role fro the slow-wave sleep that can emerge even in a power nap. Maybe our brains keep working during that time to solve problems and come up with new ideas. so he and graduate student Hiuyan Lau devised a simple test: documenting relational memory, where the brain puts together separately learned facts in new ways. First, they taught 20 English-speaking college students lists of Chinese words spelled with two characters- such as sister, mother, maid. Then half the students took a nap, being monitored to be sure they didn’t move from slow-wave sleep into the REM stage. Upon awakening, they took a multiple-choice test of Chinese words they’d never seen before. The nappers did much better at automatically learning that the first of the two-pair characters in the words they’d memorized earlier always meant the same thing- female, for example. So they also were more likely than non-nappers to choose a new word containing that character meant “princess” and not “ape”. These students took a 90 minute nap, quite a luxury for most adults. But even a 12 minute nap can boost some forms of memory, adds Dr. Robert Stickgood of Harvard Medical School.”
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*The News Times, "Nap without guilt to improve memory. November 26, 2008. Lauran Neergaard.