{"id":608393,"date":"2026-08-29T15:32:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T15:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/608393\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T15:32:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T15:32:25","slug":"running-more-effective-for-sleep-loss-than-a-short-nap-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/608393\/","title":{"rendered":"Running more effective for sleep loss than a short nap, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new study has found a surprising way for struggling sleepers to boost their energy levels, suggesting it may be better to hit the pavement <\/a>instead of the hay.<\/p>\n

Going for a jog, cycle or short workout<\/a> may be the best method to counter the effects of sleep deprivation in just 20 minutes, researchers from McGill University in Canada found.<\/p>\n

The group ran a trial on 54 healthy young adults who stayed awake for 30 consecutive hours under lab supervision. They were then split into three groups: a 20-minute cycling session<\/a>, a 90-minute nap, or neither for control results.<\/p>\n

Participants were then shown a series of images, which they returned to three days later for a memory test.<\/p>\n

The 20 minutes of exercise was just as effective as a 90-minute nap for combating memory loss caused by a bad night of sleep, the trial results showed.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A new study has found a surprising way for struggling sleepers to boost their energy levels (Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n

Report co-author Madhura Lotlikar, a doctoral candidate at McGill’s neurology department, said: “Exercise is accessible, inexpensive and easy to implement. That makes it a promising tool to help people stay cognitively sharp when sleep is limited.<\/p>\n

“A nap isn’t always possible in the middle of a shift.”<\/p>\n

The two methods also benefit the brain in different ways, authors noted. Napping appeared to help the brain “recharge”, making it easier to absorb new information.<\/p>\n

Exercise<\/a> had a contrasting effect of letting the brain “use its remaining resources more efficiently”.<\/p>\n

Researchers added that exercise cannot replace sleep<\/a>, but it may help people function better when they have less time to spare or aren’t in a position to be able to nap for 90 minutes during a lunch break.<\/p>\n

These findings could be used to influence workplace strategies around fatigue, McGill University said, with sleep loss being a common issue that goes under-addressed.<\/p>\n

A shorter nap of 30 to 60 minutes also isn’t preferable, the study<\/a> found, arguing they “failed to show restorative benefits” compared with what a person would get from a longer nap of 90 minutes.<\/p>\n

Neither exercising nor napping is the worst option, the study found, with participants in the control group performing 22 per cent worse on average than the other groups.<\/p>\n

Marc Roig, professor at McGill’s physical and occupational therapy school and study co-author, said: “Sleep loss affects nearly every aspect of how we think and function, but many people can’t simply stop what they’re doing and get more sleep.<\/p>\n

“Our findings show that even a brief bout of exercise may help preserve one of our most important cognitive abilities.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new study has found a surprising way for struggling sleepers to boost their energy levels, suggesting it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[499,103,61,60,257679,28558],"class_list":["post-608393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mcgill","tag-mcgill-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}