Reference
Liu, J., Feng, R., Ji, X., Cui, N., Raine, A., & Mednick, S. C. (2019). Midday napping in children: associations between nap frequency and duration across cognitive, positive psychological well-being, behavioral, and metabolic health outcomes. Sleep, 42(9), zsz126. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsz126
Review
Liu et al. (2019) investigated the associations between midday napping and various cognitive, behavioral, psychological, and metabolic health outcomes in elementary school children from the China Jintan Cohort Study. The study collected data on nap frequency and duration, behavioral and academic achievement, positive psychology measures, metabolic indices, and IQ tests. The results showed that regular midday napping was associated with better cognition, psychological wellness, and reduced emotional/behavioral problems in children. Specifically, napping was significantly associated with higher happiness, grit, and self-control, reduced internalizing behavior problems, higher verbal IQs, and better academic achievement. The study also found that the specific patterns of associations varied across frequency and duration for different outcomes. However, limited significant associations were found for decreased externalizing behavior problems, and no significant associations were found for performance IQ and metabolic outcomes.
The findings of this study have important implications for promoting healthy sleep habits in children. The study provides evidence that midday napping can be a useful strategy to reduce the negative impacts of poor sleep and daytime sleepiness in children and adolescents. Regular napping may help children improve their cognition, psychological wellness, and emotional/behavioral regulation, which can lead to better academic achievement and long-term health outcomes. However, the study also highlights the need for further large-scale intervention studies to establish causal effects and determine optimal nap frequency and duration for different outcomes.
Overall, Liu et al. (2019) conducted a comprehensive investigation of the associations between midday napping and various health outcomes in elementary school children. The study provides evidence that regular midday napping can have beneficial effects on cognition, psychological wellness, and emotional/behavioral regulation in children. The study emphasizes the importance of promoting healthy sleep habits in children and highlights the need for further research to establish causal effects and determine optimal nap frequency and duration for different outcomes.
