Delayed benefit of naps on motor learning in preschool children

Desrochers, Phillip C.; Kurdziel, Laura B. F.; Spencer, Rebecca M. C.

doi:10.1007/s00221-015-4506-3

Cited by 37 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…In spite of the positive association between nap duration and adiposity over time found in our study, we caution interpreting this as evidence to support limiting nap duration in toddlers, especially because nap(s) may be beneficial to other health and development outcomes, such as reduced stress levels, improved motor skill learning, and better cognitive function . Therefore, it may also be important for future studies to identify the ideal nap duration in young children for optimal health, growth, and developmental outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

The cross‐sectional and prospective associations between sleep characteristics and adiposity in toddlers: Results from the GET UP! Study

et al. 2019

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Summary Background The associations between sleep characteristics and adiposity in children under three years are not fully understood yet. Objective The objective of the study is to examine the cross‐sectional and prospective associations between sleep characteristics and adiposity in toddlers over a 12‐month period. Methods Participants were 202 toddlers from the GET‐UP! Study. Sleep duration, sleep timing, and sleep variability were assessed using 24‐hour accelerometry for seven consecutive days. Height and weight were measured, and BMI z scores were calculated. Linear mixed models were performed to examine the cross‐sectional and prospective associations between sleep characteristics and adiposity, with adjustments for clustering effects and demographic factors. Results Total sleep duration was negatively associated with higher adiposity cross‐sectionally (B = −0.12; 95% CI: −0.23, −0.01; .033) but not prospectively (B = 0.01; 95% CI: −0.13, 0.10; .843). Nap duration was prospectively associated with higher levels of adiposity (B = 0.41; 95% CI: 0.14, 0.68; .003). Sleep variability and sleep timing were not associated with concurrent or subsequent adiposity. Conclusion Although sleep duration is an important factor associated with obesity in toddlerhood, the potential effects of different types of sleep duration may vary. While longer total sleep duration may protect children from increasing adiposity, longer nap duration seems to be risk factor. As evidence in this age group is scarce, more research is needed to confirm this finding.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

The cross‐sectional and prospective associations between sleep characteristics and adiposity in toddlers: Results from the GET UP! Study

et al. 2019

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“…Sleep in early childhood has likewise been shown to contribute to successful memory performance. Such benefits have been observed on declarative memory tasks 10 – 13 , emotional memory tasks 14 , and procedural memory tasks 15 . Studies examining the acute effects of a single sleep bout (e.g., an afternoon nap) on children’s memory performance find little evidence that the duration of the sleep period is predictive of improvements in memory 10 , 16 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Habitual sleep is associated with both source memory and hippocampal subfield volume during early childhood

Riggins

Spencer

2020

Sci Rep

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Previous research has established important developmental changes in sleep and memory during early childhood. These changes have been linked separately to brain development, yet few studies have explored their interrelations during this developmental period. The goal of this report was to explore these associations in 200 (100 female) typically developing 4- to 8-year-old children. We examined whether habitual sleep patterns (24-h sleep duration, nap status) were related to children’s performance on a source memory task and hippocampal subfield volumes. Results revealed that, across all participants, after controlling for age, habitual sleep duration was positively related to source memory performance. In addition, in younger (4–6 years, n = 67), but not older (6–8 years, n = 70) children, habitual sleep duration was related to hippocampal head subfield volume (CA2-4/DG). Moreover, within younger children, volume of hippocampal subfields varied as a function of nap status; children who were still napping (n = 28) had larger CA1 volumes in the body compared to children who had transitioned out of napping (n = 39). Together, these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that habitually napping children may have more immature cognitive networks, as indexed by hippocampal integrity. Furthermore, these results shed additional light on why sleep is important during early childhood, a period of substantial brain development.

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“…Finally, the decrease in performance observed in nap-deprived children was not recovered during subsequent overnight sleep. Motor learning also appeared to benefit from napping, but only after an extended period of sleep, including night sleep 150 . In older children, 6-12 years old, a period of sleep was also associated with the improvement of a non-word learning task and a cognitive puzzle 151 .…”

Section: Napping and Memory Functions In Childrenmentioning

confidence: 93%