Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Cousins, James N.
• Leong, Ruth L. F.
• Jamaluddin, S. Azrin
• Ng, Alyssa S. C.
• Ong, Ju Lynn
• Chee, Michael W. L.

Titel

Splitting sleep between the night and a daytime nap reduces homeostatic sleep pressure and enhances long-term memory

Ist Teil von

• Scientific reports, 2021-03, Vol.11 (1), p.5275-5275, Article 5275

Ort / Verlag

London: Nature Publishing Group UK

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Daytime naps have been linked with enhanced memory encoding and consolidation. It remains unclear how a daily napping schedule impacts learning throughout the day, and whether these effects are the same for well-rested and sleep restricted individuals. We compared memory in 112 adolescents who underwent two simulated school weeks containing 8 or 6.5 h sleep opportunities each day. Sleep episodes were nocturnal or split between nocturnal sleep and a 90-min afternoon nap, creating four experimental groups: 8 h-continuous, 8 h-split, 6.5 h-continuous and 6.5 h-split. Declarative memory was assessed with picture encoding and an educationally realistic factual knowledge task. Splitting sleep significantly enhanced afternoon picture encoding and factual knowledge under both 6.5 h and 8 h durations. Splitting sleep also significantly reduced slow-wave energy during nocturnal sleep, suggesting lower homeostatic sleep pressure during the day. There was no negative impact of the split sleep schedule on morning performance, despite a reduction in nocturnal sleep. These findings suggest that naps could be incorporated into a daily sleep schedule that provides sufficient sleep and benefits learning.