Sleeping for success
Between class, club meetings and laundry, a midday nap may seem like a luxury for most college students. But a recent study conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that a nap may be necessary when learning.
Sleep helps prepare the brain for learning, according to research presented Feb. 21 at the annual American Association of the Advancement of Science. Matthew Walker, an assistant professor of psychology at Berkeley, and his team of researchers found that those who napped midday improved their ability to learn and were more likely to successfully complete a facial recognition test.
The researchers chose 39 young adults and had them memorize a group of 100 names and faces at noon, said Bryce Mander, a member of the research team and a post-doctoral fellow at Berkeley. They then split the students into two separate groups and allowed one group to take a 90-minute nap while keeping the other group awake. At 6 p.m. that day, both groups were asked to memorize a different set of names and faces.
The people who took naps were able to match up the names and faces with a 10 percent improvement from the first time, according to a Feb. 22 article in The New York Times about the study. Conversely, the group that had not napped dropped by 10 percent in accuracy, according to the article. The level of improvement that the sleep group exhibited was directly related to their nap, Mander said.
This study was prompted in response to the lack of research in the area of pre-learning sleep compared to the amount of research concerning post-learning sleep, Mander said.
‘Essentially, if you sleep after you learn something, you will remember it better,’Mander said. ‘But little is known regarding how the sleep before affects learning.’
Past research has proven that attempting to learn in a tired or exhausted state limits success. Studies of animals have also shown that the more hours an animal is awake, the more difficult it is for the brain to intake information. The Berkeley study suggests that sleep is able to consolidate all the information that our brain has collected during the day, Mander said. The brain then has more available space for new information to be learned, he said.
For college students, this means that all-nightersare actually detrimental to learning. The amount of sleep that students get will directly correlate with their ability to learn the next day, Mander said.
‘To optimize learning, have healthy, stable sleep habits on a regular basis,’ Mander said. ‘This will provide students with good sleep before and after they learn, allowing them to learn and remember more.’
Despite Mander’s suggestion and findings, some students said they did not find the study’s results relevant considering their busy schedules.
‘I probably won’t take a nap after lunch because I think my sleep habits work pretty well for me – maybe I’d try it on the weekends when I have time to nap,’ said Julie Ricchuito, a junior advertising major.
Other students said the results would possibly change their thoughts about getting extra hours of sleep.
‘The benefits are definitely there,’ said Jessica Margolin, a freshman psychology major. ‘It’s just so hard to find time between classes, but I guess it really might be worth it.’
Published on February 28, 2010 at 12:00 pm
