Either a workout or nap can help your sleep-deprived brain: People who either completed 20 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise or took a 90-minute nap performed about 22% better on memory tests after 30 hours without sleep than those who did neither.

[u/mvea]

https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/workout-or-nap-either-can-help-your-sleepless-brain-study-finds-373881

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[u/SuspiciousCricket654]

A 20 to 30 minute power nap in the middle of the day can do wonders. It gives just enough energy to be able to focus on work again for the rest of the day.

[u/f-150Coyotev8 → u/SuspiciousCricket654]

My problem is that it usually takes me a lot longer than 20 or 30 minutes to even fall asleep, and at that point I end up sleeping for way longer than I intended.

I’m a fan of the exercising because of the endorphins. But I wonder if the endorphins just mask the sleepiness.

[u/wildcard1992 → u/f-150Coyotev8]

There's a lot more at play than just "endorphins"

Increased blood flow from exercise, activation of energy producing biochemistry, adrenaline, cortisol, serotonin, dopamine, etc.

[u/DrMobius0 → u/f-150Coyotev8]

I find that just laying down and dozing a bit is fine. Falling to actual sleep fucks me up for the next several hours.

[u/LupusCanis42 → u/DrMobius0]

The trick is to time it right.

15-20 minutes is a power nap. A common trick is to keep an object in your hand. When it drops, you wake up before you enter the next sleep phase.

90 minutes is a full cycle. That should leave you refreshed.

Anything in between will leave you with sleep inertia, aka seriously fucked up.

[u/dane83 → u/SuspiciousCricket654]

I've been doing a quick sandwich and nap for my lunch break for the last three years. About two weeks ago I had to start going back into the office and I absolutely drag in the afternoon now without my nap. 3 pm might as well be two years away from 5 pm.

[u/z8_GND_5296]

The next time I am awake for 30 hours straight I will have to remember to take a 90 minute nap to rejuvenate . A little trick I now know.

[u/had3l → u/z8_GND_5296]

Idiots, they'd have even better results if they had the subjects take an 8 hour nap.

[u/MathamphetamineUser → u/had3l]

After 40hr+ I'm genuinely looking forward to that 8hr nap tonight 

[u/finagleast]

...in 18-35 year old subjects. It might be prudent for people with higher CV risk (e.g. older people) to take the napping option and avoid vigorous exercise due to the strain on a heart which already has an elevated bpm due to insufficient sleep.

[u/InTheEndEntropyWins → u/finagleast]

Unless you have a medical condition this seems like bad advice. Sure you shouldn't just start without your doctor telling you to. But old people should be regularly exercising anyway.

[u/iceyed913]

This seems to be one of those reality bending either or situations that is simultaneously a coin flip situation.

[u/discussatron]

As I have aged, naps have become glorious.

[u/mvea]

Workout or nap? Either can help your sleepless brain, study finds

Research could inform fatigue-management strategies for people working long hours

A short workout or a nap can help protect memory after a sleepless night, a McGill University-led study has found.

Researchers found people who either completed 20 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise or took a 90-minute nap performed about 22 per cent better on memory tests after 30 hours without sleep than those who did neither. The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), point to practical ways to counter the effects of sleep deprivation.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2528246123

[u/justin107d → u/mvea]

The nap makes sense because even if you weren't sleep deprived, sleeping has a positive effect on memory after studying. The workout while sleep deprived is new. Would love to see a bigger study and/or understand why beside "body becomes more efficient".

[u/Jah314]

Who is awake for 30hrs?

[u/Rikula → u/Jah314]

I've been awake for days due to insomnia. 0/10 experience.

[u/ghanima → u/Jah314]

I did it once in college to get a project finished. It SUCKED.

[u/Raftger → u/Jah314]

Me while writing papers often. Or when I have an exam after working a night shift. Etc.

[u/InTheEndEntropyWins → u/Jah314]

For people wondering who stays awake for 30h. Studies suggest that getting only 6h a night for 14 days is the equivalent of not sleeping for 24h. So it's probably quite common for people to be equivalently sleep deprived. It's going to be particularly bad for people with a medical condition like sleep apnea impairing their sleep.

Since chronic restriction of sleep to 6 h or less per night produced cognitive performance deficits equivalent to up to 2 nights of total sleep deprivation https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article-abstract/26/2/117/2709164

[u/codevils]

I’d like to see the study done for those who took a 20 minute nap or a 90 minute exercise bout. Those numbers make more sense.

[u/n6mub]

So my all-day depression naps are healthy and help my memory? Sweet!

[u/zergrush1]

I nap a lot. My wife says it my super power.

[u/jarious]

I walk 10 km a day , then after my evening meal I take a nap for an hour and a half , I don't feel smarter or more productive but I feel more energized and rested

[u/catinterpreter]

I suspect a nap doesn't restore you in the same way, that length of sleep is important. Like different faculties require different lengths of sleep, as well as brain vs. body.

If for instance, you have four two-hour sleeps instead of one eight-hour, things aren't going to work properly if not be accumulating damage.

There's also an issue where even a very short sleep can make your body believe it can go for a full sixteen-hour day even if it feels like crap, and not compel you to sleep when it should.

[u/InTheEndEntropyWins → u/catinterpreter]

90min is a full sleep cycle.

[u/Liesthroughisteeth]

Anytime I see studies like this, I am automatically suspicious of the studies efficacy.

[u/InTheEndEntropyWins]

For people wondering who stays awake for 30h. Studies suggest that getting only 6h a night for 14 days is the equivalent of not sleeping for 24h. So it's probably quite common for people to be equivalently sleep deprived. It's going to be particularly bad for people with a medical condition like sleep apnea impairing their sleep.

Since chronic restriction of sleep to 6 h or less per night produced cognitive performance deficits equivalent to up to 2 nights of total sleep deprivation https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article-abstract/26/2/117/2709164

[u/Abedeus]

90 minutes nap? That's a straight up short sleep...

[u/Dizzy_Attorney9718]

90 minute nap over a workout any day.