A new study published in the journal of Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (you have me at Neurobiology) finally gives me a scientific excuse to do what I want to do most of the day anyway: take a nap.
Researchers in Germany concluded that subjects who napped for 45-60 minutes were 5 times better at a memory assignment than those who watched a DVD instead.
Here’s how the experiment was run.
41 Subjects were given 90 single words to try to remember, along with 120 pairs of unrelated words (i.e. ‘milk taxi‘) and other words that would not rationally be paired together to avoid familiarity with a concept. Because if they used phrases like ‘matt loser’, subjects would most likely be familiar and have the benefit of jogging their memories. Then, half of the subjects watched a DVD while the other half took an hourlong nap before being retested for their memory of the words.
If you want to get all scientific, the focus of the study was on the brain’s hippocampus, the part of the brain that consolidates memories. Researchers then examined the activity of “sleep spindles” within the hippocampus that play an integral role in memory consolidation during sleep. A person’s memory of something is stronger with the largest number of sleep spindles that appear.
The researcher, Axel Mecklinger, concludes,
“A short nap at the (BroBible) 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.”
So there it is, bros. Your scientific excuse to take a quick cat nap (or 5) under your desk. And if your boss has a problem with it, tell them Axel Mecklinger approved it. Something tells me that dude is dangerous. Or a pornstar.