How sleep helps us remember names

IF you struggle to recall a new acquaintance’s name, try sleeping on it.

We are much better at remembering a person’s name and face if we sleep for eight hours after first meeting them, US research suggets.

In a study, 14 people, were shown 20 photos of faces with corresponding names and asked to memorise them.

Twelve hours later they were shown the photos again and had to answer whether or not the correct name was displayed with the picture.

They did the test twice – once with an interval of sleep and once with a period of activities in between. When given an opportunity to sleep for up to eight hours, the participants matched 12 per cent more of the faces and names, the reasearch from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found.