If you had a bad night’s sleep and are looking for a boost of afternoon energy, a new study suggests you should lace up your running shoes and head out for a jog instead of curling up in bed for a short nap.
To get a better understanding of the best way to combat sleep deprivation, researchers from McGill University in Canada conducted a trial involving 54 healthy young adults. Participants were asked to stay awake for 30 consecutive hours under lab supervision before being separated into one of three groups:
- A 20-minute cycling group
- A 90-minute napping group
- A control group
Participants then viewed a series of images, which they returned to three days later for a memory test. After looking at the results of the memory test, researchers found that 20 minutes of exercise was just as effective as a 90-minute nap for combating memory loss caused by a bad night’s sleep.
“Exercise is accessible, inexpensive and easy to implement,” said study co-author Madhura Lotlikar, a doctoral candidate at McGill’s neurology department. “That makes it a promising tool to help people stay cognitively sharp when sleep is limited. A nap isn’t always possible in the middle of a shift.”
Exercise Study
Researchers said the groups experienced different types of brain benefits. They noted that napping appeared to “recharge” the brain, making it easier to absorb new information, while exercise had a contrasting effect of letting the brain “use its remaining resources more efficiently.” Both groups performed better than the control group, who performed 22 percent worse on average than the exercise and sleep groups.
The team noted that exercise cannot replace sleep, but it may help people function better when they have less time to spare or aren’t in a position to nap for 90 minutes. They found that a shorter nap – 30 to 60 minutes – “failed to show restorative benefits” compared with what a person would get from a longer nap of 90 minutes.
“Sleep loss affects nearly every aspect of how we think and function, but many people can’t simply stop what they’re doing and get more sleep,” said Marc Roig, a professor at McGill’s physical and occupational therapy school and study co-author. “Our findings show that even a brief bout of exercise may help preserve one of our most important cognitive abilities.”
So if you’re tired during your lunch break or you’re yawning while you’re out at the park with your children, consider doing a short workout for 20 minutes to give your brain a little boost until you can lay down at night!
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