It turns out
that napping can increase intelligence
Matthew Walker, an assistant professor at the University of California says sleep is not just for the health of the body , but is very important for the brain. In the study, Walker and 39 young adults were divided into two groups. At noon, all participants take part in a memory exercise to remember faces and connect them with names.
Then the researchers took part in the memory exercise in the afternoon after sleeping for 20-100 minutes. "Those who stay awake do worse tests by 10 percent than naps," Walker said. One other thing gained from the study, one's learning ability between noon and six pm decreased by 10 percent, but napping negates this decline.
The study structure shows that the dreamless sleep phase improves memory. "Sleep plays an important role in the processing of memories, and provides plenty of evidence that sleep is not only important for after learning, but you need it before learning to prepare the brain for information."
Sleeping long enough gives the brain a chance to remember during the sleep cycle. After conducting an electroencephalogram test to track electrical activity in the brain, the researchers determined, memory refreshment occurs between sleep and dreams, called rapid eye movement (REM).
"The ability of the brain to absorb information is not always stable," says Walker. "It looks like brain capacity might be a bit like a sponge that gets soaked if it keeps learning all day long."
Jessica Payne, an assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame, said the results provide additional evidence of the importance of sleep. Sleep is very important for students as well as people who struggle to maintain memory due to aging. More recent research proves sleep can help you think more creatively, maintain better long-term memory and preserve important memories.