Teenagers should have nap on school days, says scientists

NAPS should form part of the timetable for secondary schoolchildren, a study has suggested.

Youngsters who napped five to seven days in a week had sustained attention, better non-verbal reasoning ability and spatial memory. Researchers who studied the link between a post-lunch sleep and brain function in early adolescents found naps of between 30 and 60 minutes were best, but warned against napping after 4pm. They also found that those who napped more often tended to sleep better at night.

The study, by the University of Delaware, was carried out in China where mid-day napping is common and involved 363 youngsters, with the average age of 12.

A shift in the natural sleep cycle – the circadian rhythm – takes place during adolescence, with teenagers naturally wanting to wake up an hour or two later than younger children.

“Teenagers have to get up early for school,” Xiaopeng Ji, the study leader, said. “And, with this phase delay of going to bed later, they are at-risk for chronic sleep deprivation.”

The findings are published in the journal Behavioural Sleep Medicine.