As students get back to classes and exams today after a week of break, a new study suggests that all they need to increase memory skills is a six-minute nap.
The study, done by researchers at the University of Duesseldorf and released in the March issue of The Journal of Sleep Research, suggests that students who nap for only six minutes display increased memory skills.
Penn State associate psychology professor Frederick Brown, a member of the Sleep Research Society, said he agrees that even a short nap can be beneficial for memory retention.
"I think a nap can be very helpful," Brown said. "While you nap, your memory is consolidated for efficient recall."
People in the 20- to 29-year-old age demographic who participated in the study were shown 30 words, and students who napped for six minutes were able to recall more words on average than those who did not nap at all.
"The general consensus is that a day with a nap makes your day better," said Lauren Weinberg (junior-musical theatre), who created the Facebook.com group "A Day Without a Nap Is Crap."
Weinberg, who said she had just woken up from a nap, said she prefers longer naps and called a 20-minute nap "just a tease."
However, experts say longer naps are not necessarily more efficient.
"Most people in research view a 15- to 30-minute nap as being very effective, but longer than that and you run into problems," Brown said.
Brian Lauer (junior-journalism) said he takes a nap every Tuesday and Thursday at the HUB-Robeson Center, but added, "Anything over [an hour], and I feel drowsy."
Researcher Cynthia Lajambe says napping for too long can cause sleep inertia.
"You get up, and you're totally groggy," said Lajambe, also a member of the Sleep Research Society and research associate for the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute. "It takes quite a while to shake that."
Brown said eight to 10 hours of sleep are needed to make most students alert.
However, he said surveys in his classes have indicated only about 10 percent of students are getting enough sleep.
"Sleep is one of the major reasons students don't do better academically," said University Health Services Community Health Educator Simon Holowatz. "We see a lot more people have sleep issues before and after midterms and finals."
While the study indicates that even a six-minute nap helps improve memory, Lajambe said, "It's not clear how it translates to everyday functioning."
"If it's a short nap, the benefits are short," Holowatz said. "I think it's a Band-Aid; it's not going to fix your problems."
Brown said if someone were to tell him a nap could replace a full night of sleep, his response would be, "Only in your dreams."
