sarahness

Medical researchers have shown that power naps dramatically boosts your brain power.

They found snoozing for just one hour in the day is enough not only to refresh the mind, but also to increase the brain’s ability to learn new facts in the hours that follow.

“Sleep not only rights the wrong of prolonged wakefulness but, at a neuro-cognitive level, it moves you beyond where you were before you took a nap,” said Dr. Matthew Walker, a psychologist at the University of California.

Some of the most influential people on the planet were keen cat nappers. They include John F Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Florence Nightingale.

In the Californian study, the researchers split 39 healthy students into two groups and asked them to carry out a learning task – linking faces with names – intended to tax the hippocampus, the region of the brain that helps store facts.

At 2pm, half the group took a 90 minute siesta, while the rest stayed awake.

At 6pm, the students were asked to carry out a new round of learning exercises.

Those who had a siesta performed much better than those who remained awake throughout the day.

Overall, the nappers improved their capacity to learn in the evening session, the researchers told a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in San Diego, California.

The researchers said that sleep is needed to clear the brain’s short term memory and make room for new information.

The same study also found that students who have all-night revision sessions in the run up to exams, reduce the brain’s ability to cram in new facts by 40 percent.