When practicing a musical piece, a gymnastics move, or any other activity that depends on effortless, virtually automatic execution, here's some memory-enhancing advice: If you snooze, you cruise. That, at least, is the implication of two studies in which people who practiced certain tasks performed them better on ensuing trials if they were first allowed to get some sleep. Moreover, one investigation at Harvard Medical School suggests that the initial night of sleep after learning procedural skills proves crucial for memory. The other findings indicate that sleep early in the night, which includes mainly slow-wave electrical activity in the brain, aids procedural recall.
