"Sleep nourishes babies," says an old Greek proverb. Of course, this is not just a proverb or schematic reason, as the beneficial effects of sleep on the development of children have been scientifically proven. Lunar sleep, not only rests on the body but also in the mind, helping children to have better school performance.
This has come to confirm a new American-Chinese research published in the Sleep magazine, which was conducted by the Universities of Pennsylvania and California-Irvine.
This research has shown that children who take a 30 to 60-minute lunch nap, at least three times a week, show better mood, superior academic performance and reduced behavioral problems.
Until now, research has been mainly concerned with the consequences of lack of sleep, a problem that is particularly acute in the United States, even for preschool children.
Unlike the US, the habit of lunchtime is still being observed in China. For this reason, researchers collected data from the Chinese study "China Jintan Cohort Study", which began in 2004 to collect information from childhood to adolescence.
Until now, we knew that children who slept early in the evening went well into the lessons. Now, scientists have come to the conclusion that the sixth elemental children who sleep in the day improve their performance in school by 7.6%. Researchers collected data from 2,928 children from fourth to sixth grade.
Adrian Rein, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania, said: "Fourth, fifth and sixth grade primary school children, ten to twelve, who have a nap in the day, have improved mood, better self-control, more courageous, higher intelligence IQ) and fewer behavioral problems ".
Sarah Mennick, a sleep scientist at the University of California, noted that although many laboratory studies have shown similar results, this is the first field study on the positive effect of daytime sleep on children.
"If the results are so positive, it is advisable to increase the rest within the day. In addition to costing nothing, it also keeps children away from monitors that have a controversial impact on them, "said Jangon Liu, lead author of the study, Associate Professor of Nursing and Public Health at the University of Pennsylvania.
Physical exercise helps the sleep of young people
Another research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, showed that changes in physical activity affect the quality and amount of sleep from the very first night. The researchers found that teenagers who exercised more than they usually slept earlier, more and better that night.
In particular, it was found that for every extra hour of moderate to severe physical activity adolescents slept 18 minutes earlier, ten minutes longer and had about 1% better sleep maintenance that night. By contrast, those youngsters who had more sedentary activity that day had worse sleep the same night. That is, they were asleep and waking up late, but overall they had slept less.
The importance of this research is that it is the first to measure the effects of physical exercise or sedentary life on day by day sleep. The survey involved 417 teenagers aged 15, who wore special counters on their wrists and hips to measure sleep and physical activity for one week.
Beyond the correlation that arose between physical activity and sleep, it also appeared that sleep affects physical activity the next day. In particular, it was found that those who woke up later were more likely to adopt more sedentary behavior, with scientists speculating that this may be because of lack of opportunities.
Head researcher Orpheus Buxton, a professor of Biocompetent Health at the University of Pennsylvania, underlined that when we wake up, it makes sense to have less time for both physical exercise and sedentary habits.
source: academic.oup.com/slee