A new study from McGill University in Canada found that exercise can help memory almost as much as a short nap after staying awake for a long time. In the study, 54 healthy adults aged 18 to 35 stayed awake for 30 hours. Then, they were split into three groups: one group exercised by cycling for 20 minutes, one group slept for 90 minutes, and one group sat on a bike but did not exercise.

The main reason researchers did this was to see if exercise or sleep would help people remember things better when they are very tired. Both exercise and sleep helped much more than doing nothing. The group that exercised remembered almost as many pictures as the group that took a nap.

Because of this, the scientists say that taking a short walk or doing exercise can help your memory if you cannot sleep, but exercise cannot fully replace sleep. This could be useful for doctors and workers who sometimes have to stay awake for many hours without sleeping. However, proper sleep is still very important for health.