Andy’s Quick Hits (64): Sorry, Naps Can’t Compensate for Sleep Deprivation

A good old after lunch nap, or siesta, or power nap, has been reported to work wonders. So much so that it is a surprise that many business don’t make it compulsory — a little like at Kindergarten!

However, some research, hot off the presses, by Michelle Stepan of Michigan State University, has shed some new light onto what a nap can and can’t do. And it is sobering.

Scrap the nap: Study shows short naps don’t relieve sleep deprivation

The research was done on 275 college-aged participants and they were first given a bunch of cognitive tests then randomly assigned to one of three conditions:

1. Normal sleep at home,
2. Short nap of 30 or 60 mins in the lab
3. No sleep

Then the morning after they repeated the cognitive tests.

So what were the results?

Well, as expected, and as we know, sleep deprivation severely impaired cognitive ability. That is old news. But the naps did little to mitigate this. This was more of a surprise. Though this may sound negative…