A short midday nap improved the cognitive functioning and alertness of first year internal medicine (IM) residents, a recent study showed. The study was conducted in 18 IM residents; the control group had 11 residents. At midday, both groups rested in reclining chairs designed for napping. Investigators allowed nap group residents to sleep for up to 20 minutes (they slept a mean of 8.4 minutes) but chatted with the control group residents to prevent them from falling asleep. Residents in both groups took tests to evaluate their cognitive functioning both before and after the 20-minute rest period and also were connected to an ambulatory sleep monitor to determine attention failures.
After their naps, the residents who fell asleep showed improved cognitive functioning and experienced fewer attention failures. Controls, on the other hand, had the same cognitive functioning and number of attention failures in the morning (before the rest period) and in the afternoon (after the rest period).
Consider mentioning this finding to your program director!
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