Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, found that people who take naps during the day are helping to improve their overall brain function. Among the 39 healthy adults who were evaluated in the study, those who slept for an hour and a half during the day performed better on a post-nap cognitive exam than did those who remained awake.
All participants were initially assigned a "hard learning" morning task for which all performed roughly the same. Half the group then took a nap while the others stayed awake. Following the nap, all were given a repeat exam and, this time, the group that napped performed better than the group that stayed awake. Read more...