SLEEP: Does Movement Help You?

Babies are often rocked to sleep in the arms of an adult; it’s said that the movement replicates the movement they recently experienced in the womb. But research published this year in the journal Current Biology suggests that slow, repetitive movement improves sleep quality for adults, too. According to the two studies included in the review, this movement modulates brain activity so that people fall asleep faster, and enter a deeper and less disturbed sleep. Study participants who had been rocked to sleep also performed better in a memory recall test the next morning than participants who had not fallen asleep with gentle movement. So repetitive motion also improves the memory consolidation that takes place during sleep. What helps you sleep well?