Going without sleep makes it significantly harder to concentrate and learn new information, but a new study suggests a short bout of exercise may offer some of the same memory-protecting benefits as a nap for people who cannot get adequate rest, according to CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen.

The study, published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, compared two strategies for protecting memory following sleep deprivation: aerobic exercise and napping. Wen, an emergency physician and clinical associate professor at George Washington University who previously served as Baltimore's health commissioner, walked through the study's design and findings.

According to Wen, researchers enrolled 54 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 35 and kept them awake for 30 hours before dividing them into three groups. One group performed 20 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous cycling at 80% of their maximum heart rate. A second group was given a 90-minute opportunity to nap. A control group sat on a stationary bicycle for 20 minutes without actually exercising.

Following those interventions, all participants viewed 150 images while researchers recorded their brain activity using electroencephalography, or EEG, without informing them there would later be a memory test. Three days later, after recovering from the sleep deprivation, participants were shown the original images mixed together with new ones and asked to identify which they had seen before.

The results showed comparable benefits between exercise and napping. Participants who exercised........

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