There are plenty of perfectly valid reasons to take a nap: You're a little bit sleepy. Your bed is a tiny paradise. Your elderly cat needs company. But a new study has demonstrated that taking a short nap can benefit brain function; specifically, "sleeping on it" actually helps you to process information you hadn't previously consciously perceived. Hear that, nap critics? Turns out there's nothing lazy about about a midday snooze.
Researchers from the University of Bristol worked on the hypothesis "that a short bout of sleep facilitates processing of even unconscious information" — or, in simpler terms, they looked into whether taking a nap could help you to understand or figure out something you hadn't worked out before. As EurekAlert! reports, the study, published in the Journal of Sleep Research, concludes that "information acquired during wakefulness may potentially be processed in some deeper, qualitative way during sleep."
Researchers from the University of Michigan, meanwhile, looked into the effects of sleep on impulsivity and ability to tolerate frustration. The study, published in Personality and Individual Differences, found that subjects who took a 60-minute nap were able to tolerate frustration for longer and felt less impulsive than subjects who didn't take a nap. The study authors concluded that "emotional control may become impaired from wakefulness that builds across the day," positing that "napping may be an effective countermeasure."
Read the full article at Bustle.
