Randomised trial, 2012
Do sleep benefits for memory vary by sex and menstrual cycle phase?
Yes. Men's memory improved after napping, but women's did so only during mid-luteal phase, with female hormones playing a role.
What they did
40 healthy young adults (men and women) were tested in the early follicular phase, and separately 15 women were tested in the mid-luteal and early-follicular phases. All learned a finger-tapping task and word-pair task, took a 45 minute nap, then were tested again on the tasks.
What they found
Men performed significantly better after the nap. Women only performed better after the nap during mid-luteal phase. Only men and mid-luteal women showed increased sleep spindle activity after learning. In women, estrogen correlated with verbal learning improvement and progesterone with motor learning improvement.
What it means for you
Sleep helps memory consolidation, but the benefit varies by sex and menstrual cycle phase. Female hormones and sleep spindle activity mediate this effect. Study was relatively small for comparing groups.
40
participants in sex comparison
15
women in cycle study
45 minutes
nap duration
About the study
- Original title
- Sex and modulatory menstrual cycle effects on sleep related memory consolidation
- Authors
- Genzel L, Kiefer T, Renner L et al.
- Journal
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Year
- 2012
- Study design
- Randomised trial
- Participants
- 40
- What was tested
- 45-minute nap between learning and retest
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2011.11.006
Topics
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