Sleep researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst today offer the first research results showing that classroom naps support learning in preschool children by enhancing memory. Children who napped performed significantly better on a visual-spatial task in the afternoon after a nap and the next day than those who did not nap.
Research psychologist Rebecca Spencer, with students Kasey Duclos and Laura Kurdziel, say their results suggest naps are critical for memory consolidation and early learning, based on their study of more than 40 preschool children. "Essentially we are the first to report evidence that naps are important for preschool children," Spencer says. "Our study shows that naps help the kids better remember what they are learning in preschool." Results appear in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
With an increase in publicly funded preschools, parents and administrators have questioned the usefulness of the naps. "There is increased public funding for preschools and increased enrollments in preschools due to a surge of research showing the long-term health and educational benefits of early education. But there was no research on napping so they were a target for elimination in order to make more time for more learning. We offer scientific evidence that the midday naps for preschoolers support the academic goals of early education."
For this study, Spencer and colleagues recruited 40 children from six preschools across western Massachusetts. The researchers taught children a visual-spatial task similar to the game "Memory" in the mornings. In this game, children see a grid of pictures and have to remember where different pictures are located. Each child participated in two conditions.
In one condition, the children were encouraged to nap during their regular classroom nap opportunity. Naps lasted an average of 77 minutes as recorded by observers in the classroom. In the second condition, children were kept awake for the same amount of time. Memory for the game was tested after the nap and wake conditions and again the following day to see whether nighttime sleep affected performance.
Children forgot significantly more item locations on the memory test when they had not taken a nap (65 percent accuracy), compared to when they did nap (75 percent accuracy). Thus following a nap, children recalled 10 percent more of the test locations than when they had been kept awake.
"While the children performed about the same immediately after learning in both the nap and wake conditions, the children performed significantly better when they napped both in the afternoon and the next day," the authors summarize. "That means that when they miss a nap, the child cannot recover this benefit of sleep with their overnight sleep. It seems that there is an additional benefit of having the sleep occur in close proximity to the learning."
To explore the effect of sleep stages and whether memories were actively processed during the nap, the researchers recruited an additional 14 preschoolers who came to a sleep lab and had polysomnography, a record of biophysiological changes, during their average 73-minute naps. Here Spencer and colleagues noted a correlation between sleep spindle density, that is activity associated with integrating new information, and the memory benefit of sleep during the nap.
"Until now, there was nothing to support teachers who feel that naps can really help young children. There had been no concrete science behind that," the neuroscientist says. "We hope these results will be by policy makers and center directors to make educated decisions regarding the nap opportunities in the classrooms. Children should not only be given the opportunity, they should be encouraged to sleep by creating an environment which supports sleep."
The authors call for preschools to develop napping guidelines and further research on how to protect and promote naptime for young children to enhance their learning.
Explore further: Want to boost your memory and mood? Take a nap, but keep it short
More information: Sleep spindles in midday naps enhance learning in preschool children, PNAS, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1306418110
Medical Xpress on facebook
Related Stories
Sleep researchers study value of preschool naps
Sep 14, 2012
Parents may feel it's clear that missing a nap means their young children will be grumpy and out-of-sorts, but scientists who study sleep say almost nothing is known about how daytime sleep affects children's ...
Want to boost your memory and mood? Take a nap, but keep it short
May 17, 2013
We're told to have power naps to keep us safe on the road and improve our alertness if we've had insufficient sleep. They even help our surgeons stay awake during long shifts. But siestas and nana naps can ...
Tots' sleep differences due to genes, environment, study suggests
May 27, 2013
(HealthDay)—A new study of twins suggests that genes may play a big role in how long babies and toddlers sleep at night, while environment is key during nap time.
Relationship found between napping, hyperactivity, depression and anxiety
Jun 08, 2009
Napping may have a significant influence on young children's daytime functioning, according to a research abstract that will be presented at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
Five tips for a better night's sleep
Apr 17, 2012
There’s nothing like a good night’s sleep to get you going in the morning. Drexel’s Dr. Joanne Getsy offers some tips to jump start your body and mind.
Recommended for you
Britain gives $1 billion against AIDS, malaria, TB
2 minutes ago
Britain has announced that it is giving $1 billion to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria over the next three years and hopes the money will lead to "some incredible results."
No detectable association between frequency of marijuana use and health or healthcare utilization
1 hour ago
(Boston)—Researchers from Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found frequency of marijuana use was not significantly associated with health services utilization or health status. ...
Majority of US consumers want full access to EMR
1 hour ago
(HealthDay)—Most U.S. consumers want to have full access to their electronic medical records (EMR), and 41 percent would be willing to switch doctors to gain access, according to a survey published by Accenture.
AAGBI: Wrong fluid commonly used as arterial flush in ICU
1 hour ago
(HealthDay)—Use of the wrong fluid in an arterial flush is commonly reported in intensive care unit (ICU) practice and elsewhere in hospital practice, according to a study published online Sept. 5 in Anaesthesia and pr ...
FDA lays out rules for some smartphone health apps (Update)
3 hours ago
Food and Drug Administration officials say they will begin regulating a new wave of applications and gadgets that work with smartphones to take medical readings and help users monitor their health.
Public says childhood cancer should be top children's health research priority
3 hours ago
Adults across the U.S. rate childhood cancer as their top priority for research into improving children's health, according to a new University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's ...
User comments
© Medical Xpress 2011-2013, Phys.org network
Sleep researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst today offer the first research results showing that classroom naps support learning in preschool children by enhancing memory. Children who napped performed significantly better on a visual-spatial task in the afternoon after a nap and the next day than those who did not nap.
Research psychologist Rebecca Spencer, with students Kasey Duclos and Laura Kurdziel, say their results suggest naps are critical for memory consolidation and early learning, based on their study of more than 40 preschool children. "Essentially we are the first to report evidence that naps are important for preschool children," Spencer says. "Our study shows that naps help the kids better remember what they are learning in preschool." Results appear in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
With an increase in publicly funded preschools, parents and administrators have questioned the usefulness of the naps. "There is increased public funding for preschools and increased enrollments in preschools due to a surge of research showing the long-term health and educational benefits of early education. But there was no research on napping so they were a target for elimination in order to make more time for more learning. We offer scientific evidence that the midday naps for preschoolers support the academic goals of early education."
For this study, Spencer and colleagues recruited 40 children from six preschools across western Massachusetts. The researchers taught children a visual-spatial task similar to the game "Memory" in the mornings. In this game, children see a grid of pictures and have to remember where different pictures are located. Each child participated in two conditions.
In one condition, the children were encouraged to nap during their regular classroom nap opportunity. Naps lasted an average of 77 minutes as recorded by observers in the classroom. In the second condition, children were kept awake for the same amount of time. Memory for the game was tested after the nap and wake conditions and again the following day to see whether nighttime sleep affected performance.
Children forgot significantly more item locations on the memory test when they had not taken a nap (65 percent accuracy), compared to when they did nap (75 percent accuracy). Thus following a nap, children recalled 10 percent more of the test locations than when they had been kept awake.
"While the children performed about the same immediately after learning in both the nap and wake conditions, the children performed significantly better when they napped both in the afternoon and the next day," the authors summarize. "That means that when they miss a nap, the child cannot recover this benefit of sleep with their overnight sleep. It seems that there is an additional benefit of having the sleep occur in close proximity to the learning."
To explore the effect of sleep stages and whether memories were actively processed during the nap, the researchers recruited an additional 14 preschoolers who came to a sleep lab and had polysomnography, a record of biophysiological changes, during their average 73-minute naps. Here Spencer and colleagues noted a correlation between sleep spindle density, that is activity associated with integrating new information, and the memory benefit of sleep during the nap.
"Until now, there was nothing to support teachers who feel that naps can really help young children. There had been no concrete science behind that," the neuroscientist says. "We hope these results will be by policy makers and center directors to make educated decisions regarding the nap opportunities in the classrooms. Children should not only be given the opportunity, they should be encouraged to sleep by creating an environment which supports sleep."
The authors call for preschools to develop napping guidelines and further research on how to protect and promote naptime for young children to enhance their learning.
Explore further: Want to boost your memory and mood? Take a nap, but keep it short
More information: Sleep spindles in midday naps enhance learning in preschool children, PNAS, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1306418110
Medical Xpress on facebook
Related Stories
Sleep researchers study value of preschool naps
Sep 14, 2012
Parents may feel it's clear that missing a nap means their young children will be grumpy and out-of-sorts, but scientists who study sleep say almost nothing is known about how daytime sleep affects children's ...
Want to boost your memory and mood? Take a nap, but keep it short
May 17, 2013
We're told to have power naps to keep us safe on the road and improve our alertness if we've had insufficient sleep. They even help our surgeons stay awake during long shifts. But siestas and nana naps can ...
Tots' sleep differences due to genes, environment, study suggests
May 27, 2013
(HealthDay)—A new study of twins suggests that genes may play a big role in how long babies and toddlers sleep at night, while environment is key during nap time.
Relationship found between napping, hyperactivity, depression and anxiety
Jun 08, 2009
Napping may have a significant influence on young children's daytime functioning, according to a research abstract that will be presented at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
Five tips for a better night's sleep
Apr 17, 2012
There’s nothing like a good night’s sleep to get you going in the morning. Drexel’s Dr. Joanne Getsy offers some tips to jump start your body and mind.
Recommended for you
Britain gives $1 billion against AIDS, malaria, TB
2 minutes ago
Britain has announced that it is giving $1 billion to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria over the next three years and hopes the money will lead to "some incredible results."
No detectable association between frequency of marijuana use and health or healthcare utilization
1 hour ago
(Boston)—Researchers from Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found frequency of marijuana use was not significantly associated with health services utilization or health status. ...
Majority of US consumers want full access to EMR
1 hour ago
(HealthDay)—Most U.S. consumers want to have full access to their electronic medical records (EMR), and 41 percent would be willing to switch doctors to gain access, according to a survey published by Accenture.
AAGBI: Wrong fluid commonly used as arterial flush in ICU
1 hour ago
(HealthDay)—Use of the wrong fluid in an arterial flush is commonly reported in intensive care unit (ICU) practice and elsewhere in hospital practice, according to a study published online Sept. 5 in Anaesthesia and pr ...
FDA lays out rules for some smartphone health apps (Update)
3 hours ago
Food and Drug Administration officials say they will begin regulating a new wave of applications and gadgets that work with smartphones to take medical readings and help users monitor their health.
Public says childhood cancer should be top children's health research priority
3 hours ago
Adults across the U.S. rate childhood cancer as their top priority for research into improving children's health, according to a new University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's ...
User comments
© Medical Xpress 2011-2013, Phys.org network
0 comments:
Post a Comment