A nap can improve your memory

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You may think that this post has nothing to do with accounting. If you have never forgotten your tax deadlines or you always know where you put your receipts, you are right: this post has nothing to do with accounting and you can go ahead and read some other interesting tips for your business here.

But if you are someone with many things to do and to remember, keep reading: you might find out something useful and pleasant, too.

Memory impairment can be common as we age and in cases of intense stress. However, there are a number of strategies that can improve overall memory at any age. One (and here comes the pleasant part) is to take a nap. A small study reported in the Journal of Sleep Research (Volume 17, page 3) suggests that a short daytime nap can help your memory.

German researchers conducted two experiments involving 26 university students ages 20 to 29. In the first experiment, the volunteers were asked to memorize 30 adjectives within two minutes and then to recall as many as possible after either a one-hour nap or one hour of waking activities. Each participant was tested in both the napping and waking conditions, and the experiments were repeated one week after the first testing sessions.

The results showed that the students performed significantly better after napping, and their performance was not affected by the time spent in slow-wave sleep (deep sleep).

The second experiment tested participants for word recall after no nap, a long nap (35 minutes), and a short nap (six minutes). The students performed the best after the long nap, but even the very brief nap significantly boosted memory processing compared with no nap at all. It may be that sleep onset itself activates memory consolidation and once the process is triggered it remains effective, even when sleep time is cut short.

So, don’t feel guilty if you need to take a nap from time to time: when you wake up you will remember to call that important client and you will know exactly where you can find that missing document.

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