A 45-minute power nap can boost your memory five-fold, study finds

‘A short nap at the office or in school is enough to significantly improve learning success,’ the lead professor said.

Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith
Monday 23 March 2015 17:15 GMT
Comments
Power napping has a positive effect on your memory
Power napping has a positive effect on your memory

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

At last, nodding off in the office or at school can be justified for its medical benefits, specifically for its positive effect on the memory.

Scientists at the Saarland University in Germany have found that taking a 45 – 60 minute power nap can boost a persons’ memory five-fold.

The study, published in the journal Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, tested the power of napping on 41 students.

The students were taught 90 words and 120 unrelated word pairs, and then split into two groups. One group was allowed to take a nap, while the other was given a DVD to watch.

Both groups were tested on the words they had been taught, with the napping group performing the best.

Professor Axel Mecklinger, who supervised the study, said: “A short nap at the office or in school is enough to significantly improve learning success.

“Wherever people are in a learning environment, we should think seriously about the positive effects of sleep.

“Even a short sleep lasting 45 to 60 minutes produces a five-fold improvement in information retrieval from memory.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in