Are catnaps as beneficial as actual sleep?

New Scientist

Image: jekert gwapo

Is it time to dream up a fresh theory of sleep? We are all familiar with the concept a power nap, but it could be the very process of falling asleep that’s beneficial to the brain. Perhaps sleep itself is a mere side effect.

“A nap of just 10 minutes can reduce drowsiness, even though most models of sleep suggest you need more time to see an effect,” says Derk-Jan Dijk at the University of Surrey, UK. “It’s an anomaly – there is a discrepancy between how much sleep we think we need and the data.”

Now, Olaf Lahl at the University of Düsseldorf, Germany, has shown that simply falling asleep does more than refresh the brain – it can improve recall. Read more on newscientist.com…