What should you do if you got no sleep, but need to remember things today? Scientists found an unexpected answer: 20 minutes of aerobic exercise helped almost as well as 90 minutes of daytime sleep.
In the experiment, 53 healthy volunteers stayed awake for 30 hours. Then some cycled for 20 minutes, others slept for an hour and a half, and the rest simply rested.
Three days later, memory was tested with an unexpected task. After exercise, participants performed 21% better than the control group; after sleep, 23% better.
EEG showed that sleep and exercise work in different ways. Sleep reduced "sleep pressure," while exercise helped the brain use attention and memory resources more efficiently.
A bicycle does not replace a bed. The study looked at one sleepless night, not chronic sleep deprivation. But if sleep is impossible, 20 minutes of movement may be more useful than simply waiting for the brain to reset.
