Naps and Exercise Mitigate Memory Loss from Sleep Deprivation

A study published in PNAS involving 54 adults found that a 90-minute nap or 20 minutes of exercise can protect memory performance after 30 hours of sleep deprivation.

Participants who engaged in either intervention performed approximately 22% better on memory encoding tasks compared to a control group that remained awake without activity.

Researchers noted that while both interventions improved memory, they utilized different neural pathways, with napping reducing sleep pressure and exercise enhancing the efficiency of memory-related resources.