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Narrator:
College student Sarah Raifsnider (RAFE-sni-der) says napping improves her grade point average.
Sarah Raifsnider, Student:
If I know I have to study for a test, I'll usually nap for 20 minutes before and then I'm ready to restart my day. Round two of my day.
Narrator:
The school's all for it. In fact, the University of California San Diego recently held its first ever nap-in.
Jerry Phelps, PhD, Wellness Center Director, University of California San Diego:
It was a success among students and staff and faculty. I found a bunch of what you might say closet nappers.
Narrator:
He says, for a country that's sleep deprived, we give nappers a bad rap - that you're lazy or sleeping on the job. Now school officials want to change that.
Jerry Phelps, PhD, Wellness Center Director, University of California San Diego:
We want to make napping a positive in our culture and so we're making UC San Diego a nap positive environment.
Sara Mednick, PhD, Research Scientist, University of California San Diego:
That's the goal is really to bring napping to the people.
Narrator:
Sleep expert Sara Mednick is a big fan of napping. She wrote the book on it. And she has research to prove it can keep you more alert than coffee.
Sara Mednick, PhD, Research Scientist, University of California San Diego:
We have a new study actually that shows that we compared naps to caffeine on three different kinds of memory tests.
And we find that naps made people perform better and caffeine made people perform much worse even in placebo.
Narrator:
She says while a 20-minute nap can rejuvenate you, a 90-minute nap can also improve memory and motor skills.
Sara Mednick, PhD, Research Scientist, University of California San Diego:
You also show increases in creativity.
We have a new study looking at people who are able to, people with REM sleep are more able to use in a creative way information that they've seen earlier to solve creative problems.
Narrator:
Then again, you may not have to sleep at all to get some useful shuteye.
Sara Mednick, PhD, Research Scientist, University of California San Diego:
In some cases, we're showing that sleep is actually active process that's helping your brain learn.
And in other cases, it appears that it's not necessarily sleep but it's the lack of doing something. So even a case like meditation or sitting quietly can be as helpful.
Narrator:
So when you get a minute - or 20 - or 90, kick back and take a nap. It does your brain good. For WebMD, I'm Sandee LaMotte.
