Do power naps have the same effect on memorizing as normal sleep?

Short answer: no one knows. My instinct is that power naps are probably more or less useless because the protein synthesis component of consolidation (I think?) would take longer than that….don’t quote me, though.

What exam are you cramming for?

Long answer:
“The time spent in REM sleep is not correlated with learning ability across humans, nor is there a positive relation between REM sleep time or intensity and encephalization across species. Although sleep is clearly important for optimum acquisition and performance of learned tasks, a major role in memory consolidation is unproven.”
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/294/5544/1058

“Using a motor skill finger-tapping task, here we provide evidence for at least three different stages of human motor memory processing after initial acquisition. We describe the unique contributions of wake and sleep in the development of different forms of consolidation, and show that waking reactivation can turn a previously consolidated memory back into a labile state requiring subsequent reconsolidation.”
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15202347

”...each stage of sleep seems to contribute differently to these processes….”
http://leitl.org/docs/public_html/striz/striz.org/docs/05sleep-memory.pdf

Anatomy/Morphology lab practical covering all cat muscles and all cat skeletal including skull bones. thanks for the answer! i figured i should ask fluther instead of wasting more study time researching this haha. too bad the power nap idea doesn’t seem to be a good one anymore.

Some people say you can train your body so that you’ll be rested by short 20–30 minute naps. Some even take it to the extreme and have had success with 6 of these naps spaced throughout the day being the only sleep they get. If done consistently it is supposed to be sustainable. (check out polyphasic sleep sometime after your test)...

I tried several sleep schedules and the only one (other than a standard 6–8 hours at one time) that I could stick with was simply breaking that period into two 2–3 hour naps.

More to your question though, the only time I would really feel “rested” when trying the 30 minute naps spaced throughout the day was if I was truly completely exhausted. The theory I heard goes that you fall more quickly into REM sleep in these situations, but as nikipedia said, there don’t seem to be a lot of definitive answers.

Although I didn’t test this specifically with memorization, I would guess the rested feeling would probably help with learning new material or the actual test more than simple memorization.

Good luck on the test, I’m sure you’ll do great.

I like a good power nap, but have to be careful; too short makes me a bitch, while too long makes me sleepier.