How a short nap can improve memory and performance, says Harvard study

A recent study explains why taking a nap break helps some people perform better when they resume their task after the break. The researchers said that during sleep, short-term information related to the task is converted into long-term and stronger memory. 

The researchers included those from Harvard Medical School, US, and it was published in the Journal of Neuroscience. The team monitored brain activity of 25 participants as they were learning a typing sequence, which was followed by taking a nap. 

Brain activity during nap shows memory processing

The researchers found that during sleep, areas in the cortex, which is the brain's outermost layer that helps with higher-level functions such as memory, that were active while the participants worked showed more rhythmic and repetitive patterns. This indicates that any information related to the task is being processed. 

The results show that there was an increased number of brain waves in these areas of the brain's cortex that were related with an improved



performance of the participants following the nap.

The authors of the study wrote, “During sleep, cortical brain areas active during training had more rhythmic activity. Increased brain rhythms in these areas correlated with how much participants improved in the task after the nap.”

How sleep strengthens learned skills

The researchers also found that performance during learning was also linked with increased activity during sleep in brain regions known to help with executing a movement, which possibly represents the memory of the task.

However, performance after a nap was linked to increased activity during sleep in brain regions known to help with planning a movement, which the authors suggested may help improve functioning in the future.

Dana Manoach, professor of psychology in the department of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, said, “Brain rhythms occur everywhere in the brain during sleep. But the rhythms in these regions increase after learning, presumably to stabilise and enhance memory.”