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| Boosting brain power in preschoolers | |||||
| Study shows naps enhance learning | |||||
 Napping during the day strongly supports learning in preschoolers by enhancing memory according to new research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.Sleep researchers have shown that children who napped performed notably better on a visual-spatial task in the afternoon after a nap than those who didn't sleep. More than 40 preschoolers were involved in the study and associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Rebecca Spencer said the results indicate that naps are critical for memory consolidation and early learning. "Our study shows that naps help the kids better remember what they are learning in preschool," said Professor Spencer. Professor Spencer suggests the findings, which are published in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, support the importance of including naps as part of the daily routine in preschools. "Naps were a target for elimination (in preschools) 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," she said. For the study the researchers taught children a visual-spatial task similar to 'Memory' in the mornings. In the game the children are shown a grid of pictures and have to remember where different pictures are located. Each child had the opportunity to complete the activity after having an afternoon nap and after skipping a nap and researchers checked the children's memory under both conditions. They also checked again the following day to check whether nighttime sleep affected performance. The results showed a 10 per cent improvement in ability to recall picture locations between the children when they napped (75 per cent accuracy) compared to when they skipped a nap (65 per cent accuracy). The researchers showed that while the children performed about the same immediately after learning in both the nap and wake conditions, they performed significantly better when they napped both in the afternoon and the next day. "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," said Professor Spencer. Professor Spencer said the findings provide strong evidence to support early childhood education and care professionals who believe in the benefits of continuing naps into the preschool years. "Until now, there was nothing to support teachers who feel that naps can really help young children… We hope these results will be used by policy makers and centre directors to make educated decisions regarding 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," said Professor Spencer. Further reading Sleep spindles in midday naps enhance learning in preschool children, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
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