Celebrating siestas

Daytime naps help the brain process information that’s hidden from conscious awareness

- Liz Coulthard

How does sleep help us process information?

Dr Liz Coulthard There’s convincing evidence that memories are laid down during deep ‘slow-wave’ sleep. In your waking hours, when brain cells learn information, it goes into the hippocampus, the memory area of the brain. The memory is still quite fragile, and during sleep, neural networks are activated between the hippocampus and the rest of the brain. Using EEG [electroencephalography], we see cycles of brain waves that are important for strengthening these memories. We’re looking into insight – deeper, qualitative information processing – which is more of an emerging field.

How did you test whether naps improve insight?