Naps show no enhancing effects on movement performance in healthy young adults

Abstract

Background: Sleep has previously been found to be essential in the continued learning processes of declarative information, such as word-pairs. To examine the importance of sleep, especially the effects of midday naps, on motor learning, this randomized trial was conducted. Purpose: This trial is part of a larger study evaluating the effect of sleep intervention involving midday-naps on movement performance and learning, in relation to an equivalent period of wakefulness, in various populations. This research will provide a basis for future sleep-related developments of health care plans, especially concerning people with chronic disability, such as stroke. Methods: The study was approved by the ethics committee Hamburg and each participant provided informed consent prior to the study. 35 healthy, right-handed, young adults participated (18–30yrs), learningboth a 9-element sequence task (SE) and a motor adaptation (MA) task in a crossover fashion on two consecutive days. Both tasks were performed with the left hand. Prior to learning, each subject was randomized to one of three conditions;