Napping makes children happier, have fewer behavioral problems – Study

A study of about 3,000 fourth, fifth and sixth graders aged 10-12 years has revealed a connection between midday napping and greater happiness, self-control, and grit; fewer behavioral problems; and higher IQ, the latter particularly for the sixth graders. A new research from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Irvine, published in […]

A study of about 3,000 fourth, fifth and sixth graders aged 10-12 years has revealed a connection between midday napping and greater happiness, self-control, and grit; fewer behavioral problems; and higher IQ, the latter particularly for the sixth graders.

A new research from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Irvine, published in the journal Sleep backs up that parental insight.

Co-author of the study, Penn neurocriminologist Adrian Raine, said most robust findings were associated with academic achievement.

“Ask just about any parent whether napping has benefits and you’ll likely hear a resounding “yes,” particularly for the child’s mood, energy levels, and school performance.”

Raine said, children who napped three or more times per week benefit from a 7.6% increase in academic performance in Grade 6. “How many kids at school would not want their scores to go up by 7.6 points out of 100?”

Sleep deficiency and daytime drowsiness are surprisingly widespread, with drowsiness affecting up to 20% of all children, says lead author on the study Jianghong Liu, a Penn associate professor of nursing and public health.

“What’s more, the negative cognitive, emotional and physical effects of poor sleep habits are well-established, and yet most previous researches have focused on preschool age and younger ones.”

So, Liu and Raine, with Penn biostatistician Rui Feng, UC Irvine sleep researcher Sara Mednick and others, turned to the China Jintan Cohort Study, established in 2004 to follow participants from toddlerhood through adolescence.

From each of 2,928 children, the researchers collected data about napping frequency and duration once the children hit Grades 4 through 6, as well as outcome data when they reached Grade 6, including psychological measures like grit and happiness and physical measures such as body mass index and glucose levels. They also asked teachers to provide behavioral and academic information about each student. They then analyzed associations between each outcome and napping, adjusting for sex, grade, school location, parental education, and nightly time in bed.