A short workout or a nap can help protect memory after a sleepless night, a McGill University-led study has found.

Researchers found people who either completed 20 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise or took a 90-minute nap performed about 22 per cent better on memory tests after 30 hours without sleep than those who did neither. The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), point to practical ways to counter the effects of sleep deprivation.

“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,” said senior author Marc Roig, Professor in McGill’s School of Physical and Occupational Therapy. “Our findings show that even a brief bout of exercise may help preserve one of our most important cognitive abilities.”

The study involved 54 healthy young adults who stayed awake for 30 consecutive hours under lab supervision. Participants were then assigned to one of three groups: a 20-minute cycling session, a 90-minute nap or a control condition. Three days later, researchers tested their memory for images they had viewed immediately after the intervention. Those who exercised or napped remembered significantly more images than participants who did neither.

Same result, different pathways

While the memory benefits were nearly identical, brain recordings revealed that exercise and napping helped in different ways.

Napping appeared to help the brain recharge, making it easier to take in and remember new information. Exercise, by contrast, helped the brain use its remaining resources more efficiently, without making participants feel more tired.

The findings could eventually inform fatigue-management strategies in workplaces where sleep loss is common and mistakes can have serious consequences, such as health care, transportation and emergency response.

“A nap isn’t always possible in the middle of a shift,” said first author Madhura Lotlikar, a doctoral candidate in McGill’s Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery. “Exercise is accessible, inexpensive and easy to implement. That makes it a promising tool to help people stay cognitively sharp when sleep is limited.”

The researchers emphasize that exercise cannot replace sleep, but it may help people function better when getting enough rest isn’t possible.

About the study

“Protecting episodic memory after sleep loss: Similar benefits of exercise and naps via distinct neural contributions” by Madhura Lotlikar and Marc Roig et al., was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Coffee is one of the world’s most widely consumed beverages, and previous research has linked its consumption to a lower risk of conditions such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, the biological mechanisms behind these benefits remain unclear. A new Finnish study links habitual coffee consumption to healthier body composition and metabolic markers, while revealing distinct associations with sex hormones in men and women.

The study, conducted at the University of Oulu, analysed data from 2,264 participants aged 46 in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. Researchers examined how habitual coffee consumption was associated with circulating metabolites, cardiometabolic risk markers and sex hormones.

Despite having a similar body mass index (BMI), individuals with higher coffee consumption had lower total and visceral fat and greater skeletal muscle mass than those who consumed less coffee.

In both men and women, higher coffee consumption was correlated with lower circulating levels of branched-chain amino acids, biomarkers that have previously been linked to insulin resistance and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes when chronically elevated.

The strongest sex-specific associations were observed in men. Higher coffee consumption was linked to a more favourable glucose–insulin profile, higher concentrations of total and bioavailable testosterone, and increased levels of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). At the same time, free testosterone and the free androgen index were modestly lower. In women, hormonal associations were more limited and were primarily characterised by higher SHBG and lower measures of free androgens.

“Coffee is consumed by millions of people every day, yet we still know surprisingly little about how it relates to our metabolism and hormones. What stood out in our findings was a distinct hormonal signature that didn’t disappear even after we took into account BMI and lifestyle factors, with several of these associations differing between men and women,” says Luca Verroest, lead author of the study and Doctoral Researcher at the University of Oulu.

The results suggest that hormonal pathways may partly explain the relationship between coffee consumption and metabolic health. However, as this was an observational study, the findings demonstrate associations rather than cause-and-effect relationships.

The study is particularly relevant in Finland, one of the world’s highest coffee-consuming countries, where annual consumption averages around 11.8 kilograms per person.

The researchers say the findings provide a foundation for future studies aimed at determining whether coffee itself drives these biological changes and identifying the compounds responsible. These questions are currently being investigated in animal models, with the long-term goal of progressing to human intervention studies. Further research will be needed before the findings could inform dietary recommendations.

The study, Associations of habitual coffee intake with testosterone and cardiometabolic markers: the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 study, has been published in the European Journal of Nutrition.

Prenatal visits might include bloodwork, discussions of due dates and vitamins, and ultrasounds. What if these visits could also improve oral health care among pregnant patients?

New research shows that scheduling a dental appointment during prenatal clinic visits—a simple, no-cost task that doesn’t require extra staff—increases the likelihood that patients later see a dentist during pregnancy.

The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, demonstrates the benefit of coordination among health providers and integrating oral health into prenatal care, especially for vulnerable patient populations.

Historically, dentists avoided treating women during pregnancy unless it was an emergency, or only provided care during the second trimester. This guidance changed once studies showed that routine and emergency dental care is safe during pregnancy—and current obstetric and dental guidelines stress that dental care can and should be provided during this critical period.

Moreover, pregnancy increases the risk of some oral health conditions, including gum inflammation and sometimes tooth decay, making routine dental care even more important during pregnancy. Some oral health issues may affect the fetus or even be transmissible to the child after birth. 

Marginalized groups, including low-income individuals and those insured by Medicaid, are known to have higher rates of dental disease. Yet women enrolled in Medicaid are far less likely to see a dentist for a cleaning during pregnancy compared to women with private insurance.

“Many of those vulnerable to oral disease enter pregnancy with dental disease, and this may worsen during pregnancy,” said study author Stefanie Russell, associate professor at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine and an adjunct associate professor at NYU College of Dentistry, who led this research while at NYU.

One way to try and increase dental care among pregnant women is to reach them where they already are: their prenatal appointments. To bridge this gap, researchers and clinicians at NYU College of Dentistry teamed up with neighboring NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, the oldest public hospital in the US, to create the New York University/Bellevue Prenatal Oral Health Program. 

During weekly sessions at Bellevue’s prenatal clinic, pregnant patients receive a standardized screening to assess their oral health. Those with dental needs are referred to NYU College of Dentistry for follow-up care, educated about the importance and safety of dental care during pregnancy, and informed that Medicaid covers dental care in New York.

From 2018 to 2020, 420 prenatal patients with Medicaid coverage were referred to NYU Dentistry for follow-up dental care; the majority were Hispanic, and roughly half spoke Spanish as their first language. Referrals for dental care took two forms: immediately scheduled dental appointments made before the patient left the prenatal clinic or through a patient navigator. The patient navigator—a bilingual professional—educated patients regarding oral health, reminded patients of their upcoming dental appointments, and followed up after to identify any issues. 

Nearly 44 percent of patients referred to NYU College of Dentistry followed through with a dental appointment. Both immediate appointment scheduling and the patient navigator increased the chances of a patient receiving dental care, but those who had appointments scheduled at their prenatal visit were 2.6 times more likely to see a dentist than those without appointments scheduled—even more likely than those who worked with the patient navigator.

“This suggests that immediately scheduled dental appointments can be an effective way to increase dental care utilization during pregnancy, without needing to hire extra staff,” said study author Shulamite Huang, assistant professor of epidemiology and health promotion at NYU College of Dentistry.

The authors conclude that integrating oral health screening in a prenatal clinic is feasible and increases engagement with dental care during pregnancy. They are continuing their research to measure whether this care improves oral health outcomes and to better understand how dental screening can be successfully integrated with prenatal care in other settings.

“A warm hand-off is key for addressing part of the barriers to dental care during pregnancy. Our team plans to further investigate and optimize interventions addressing both patient-, provider-, and healthcare system-level barriers to dental care during pregnancy,” said Huang.  

Additional study authors include Richard Heyman and Mary Kang of NYU Dentistry; Belkys Saba, formerly of NYU Dentistry; Chloe Bird of the Tufts University School of Medicine; and Chengwu Yang of the Florida Atlantic University Schmidt College of Medicine.