A short afternoon nap does more than fight fatigue — new research shows it consolidates memory too.Sleep researchers found that even brief naps of 20 to 30 minutes engage the same memory-consolidation processes seen in overnight sleep, just at a smaller scale. Participants who napped after learning a task outperformed non-nappers on recall tests hours later. The effect appears strongest for procedural and spatial memory, adding scientific weight to workplaces experimenting with nap pods and quiet rooms.
