Boost Your Brain with an
Afternoon Nap

The Spanish might have been onto something with their famous afternoon siesta. According to new research from the University of California, Berkeley, an afternoon nap can boost your brainpower.

Results from a study conducted by lead investigator Matthew Walker, an assistant professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, showed that a power nap could help to clear the brain’s short-term memory storage and improve its capacity to absorb new information.

Thirty-nine healthy students were divided into two groups — nap and no-nap. At 1pm, they were given learning exercises designed to specifically target the brain’s fact-based memory. Both groups performed at a comparative level.

At 2pm the nap group was given a 90-minute siesta. At 6pm, similar learning lessons were carried out. During this time the no-nap group became worse at learning, while the group who had napped for 90 minutes between lessons showed an improved capacity to learn and store more information.