Midday naps have long been touted as a good thing, lowering blood pressure and driving down the risk of heart attack. And if you snooze long enough, researchers have now found, they also permit your memory banks to do their filing, leaving your brain cleared and ready to learn in the latter half of the day. University of California at Berkeley psychology professor Matthew Walker and colleagues put 39 young adults through a demanding learning task and tested on it at noon. While not all the nappers slept for the same length of time, those who had more Stage 2 non-REM sleep, a lighter form of sleep in which one does not dream, had the greatest performance enhancement. The group presented its findings recently at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego. Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

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