Studying for a major exam or reading up on the latest information is best performed at night before sleeping.  As you sleep, these memories are left better intact for retrieval the next day. 

A recent report from Jeffrey Ellenborgen, MD, at Harvard Medical School examined test scores of 48 participants who either tested at night or in the morning after sleeping at home.  His findings showed those who slept after studying performed significantly better than those who tested without sleeping before the test.

"This is the first study to show that sleep protects memories from interference," Ellenbogen says in an American Academy of Neurology news release.

"These results provide important insights into how the sleeping brain interacts with memories: It appears to strengthen them," he says.