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Naps Nurture Growing Brains

Posted by Soulskill on from the reasons-to-keep-horse-tranquilizer-around-the-house dept.

sciencehabit writes "Few features of child-rearing occupy as much parental brain space as sleep, and with it the timeless question: Is my child getting enough? Despite the craving among many parents for more sleep in their offspring (and, by extension, themselves), the purpose that sleep serves in young kids remains something of a mystery—especially when it comes to daytime naps. Do they help children retain information, as overnight sleep has been found to do in adults? A new study provides the first evidence that daytime sleep is in fact critical for effective learning in young children."

13 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. Good luck with that by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Informative

    modern schools are designed to condition kids to work hard on less sleep. Heck, public schools in America were original developed to get farm kids used to the kind of regimented life factory work requires (read "A people's history of the United States" for citation). America is all about working harder for less. I suppose it might be different in the rest of the world though.

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    1. Re:Good luck with that by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 2

      modern schools are designed to condition kids to work hard on less sleep. Heck, public schools in America were original developed to get farm kids used to the kind of regimented life factory work

      Note that this attitude now permeates American schooling all the way through medical training.

      captcha:wretches

      It's getting a little better. As proof, I submit the fact that physicians who finished residency 10 years ago are now saying "back in my day, we had to . . ."

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  2. Yeh good luck with that by swamp_ig · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's interesting.

    Now how about some research on actually persuading your child to have a nap, rather than a protracted battle of wills that gets everyone on edge.

    Naps are great when they happen, but all parties must be willing

    1. Re:Yeh good luck with that by dgatwood · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I was the only person in my kindergarten class who couldn't sleep during the day. (I still can't sleep during the day unless I'm severely jet lagged.) I just sort of sat there and thought about stuff for that half hour or however long it was. I'm pretty sure my learning was not in any way compromised by this.

      That conclusion is actually supported by the article, which says that kids who are used to taking naps don't learn as well if they don't take naps, but that kids who never take naps don't improve after taking one. So if all parties aren't willing, chances are, your kid is beyond the age where a nap is useful, pedagogically speaking.

      In other words, it is important to make naps available to kids who need them, but it is not useful to force naps on kids whose brains matured earlier. In an ideal world, there should be something for those kids to do other than lying there and feeling bored—perhaps a trip to the school library to read something, at least for those kids whose reading skills are far enough along to do so. My guess is that there's probably a roughly 1:1 correlation between those two groups.

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  3. They're good for all by djupedal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Among the many things I learned from the locals while working in Japan was the ability to power nap. Benefits are both physical and mental, but the underlying brain 'tech' is how short term memory is allowed to percolate over to long term. Anyone at any age can apply such a technique.

  4. The Best Nap by sexconker · · Score: 2, Funny

    The best nap is the one where you wake up to an eager mouth on your genitals, just as you orgasm.

    1. Re:The Best Nap by PPH · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's why they are called "Staff meetings".

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  5. Napping Will Rot Your Brain by l0ungeb0y · · Score: 3, Interesting

    While naps may help mental development in children, taking those afternoon naps in your cubicle will cause Dementia
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9403227/Daytime-naps-linked-to-dementia-warn-neurologists.html

    Wooooooaaaahhh! Spine-tingling and Spooky Clinical Studies for Halloween!

    1. Re:Napping Will Rot Your Brain by ShadowRangerRIT · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The article you link reverses the cause and effect you claim; the assumption is that excessive napping is an early indicator of dementia, not the cause of it. And the research itself appears to take no stand on the matter; it established a correlation with no actual evidence for which way (if any) the causation arrow goes.

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  6. It's an evolutionary adaptation by ebno-10db · · Score: 2

    Children getting a lot of sleep is an evolutionary adaptation, since parents driven beyond the brink make poor caregivers.

  7. Re:Growing? by slick7 · · Score: 2

    (I've only read the summary, so...)

    I'm waiting for the movie.

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  8. It's true for me, too by pax+humana · · Score: 3, Funny

    In an effort to be of most intellectual value to my employer, I start the day with an Ambien. Then I'm really productive the last two hours of the day.

  9. My brothers used to drug me... by Macchendra · · Score: 2

    My brothers (aged 6 and 8 while I was 3) used to drug me with a NyQuil laced ice cream shake they'd call a "Shamrock Shake" so they could go out to play. Worked wonders, but I won't leave a drink unattended til this day.