Benefits of Napping To Children - Research Paper Example

RESEARCH: EDUCATION; Benefits of Napping To Children Amani Alodwani EDT 660 April 6, Introduction Most parents understand that children need rest.The most parent will have their infant take a nap at least two times a day, and this habit decreases to just one nap by age two. At the age four or five children have no nap during the day because it is assumed that their brains have fully developed and matured. Brown (2002) indicated clearly that those children that are given the opportunity to get some nap especially after meals often have proper and healthy development both physically and psychologically. He also highlighted the side effects of the lack of the nap on children who miss the opportunity to get the sleep. To this end, the present review of various research studies is important as it will aid in ascertaining the guiding hypotheses that were used to affirm the importance of napping in children. Owing to the lack of sleep as a result of lack of naps, there would be an increased disruptive behavior such as; screaming, tantrums, hitting, and whining on the young children. The literature reviewed highlights vividly and deeply the discussions on the benefits of napping on the toddlers. They illustrate how the daytime sleeping helps improve a child’s cognitive functions that involve their thinking abilities, their behavioral and emotional reactions. Through such reviews, an excellent understanding of the research in this particular subject under study is gained. In other words, the present area od study ignition for review enables one understand the topic of debate and the various approaches given to it as well as the suggested direction of future study and research. One important item worth noting is the going non-stop and not taking naps is unnatural (Weissbluth, 2009). More than 85% of mammalian species are polyphonic sleepers, implying that they sleep for brief times during the day (Epstein & Mardon, 2007). People are a piece of the minority of monophasic sleepers, meaning that human days are categorized by two unmistakable periods, one for slumber, and one for alertness; however, it is not clear that this is the natural characteristic (Touchette, 2007). Napping is a noteworthy prerequisite for good health, and for young kids to get enough of it; some daytime slumber is typically required (Weissbluth, 2009). While naps do not fundamentally compensate for insufficient or low-quality evening sleep, a short snooze of 20-30 minutes can help to enhance temperament, sharpness and execution (Neuman et al. 2014). Vital physical and mental advancement happens in early childhood, and snoozes give considerably required downtime for growth and restoration. According to Charles Shubin as quoted by McLeod (2009), a little nap for the children helps them conserve energy. In the same light, Touchette (2007) observed that during the early stages of the children’s growth, children do sleep too much and also tends to eat so much because their energy demands are quite large. Literature Review The cognitive hypothesis is a way to brain research that endeavors to clarify human conduct by the comprehension of the thought process. It is assumed that in people, musings are the essential determinants of feelings and behavior. This notion was postulated by Jean Piaget (1936) who highlighted that human thought process influences how human understand and interact with their environment and the world. According Weissbluth (2009), Piaget had the view that children often think much differently and faster than adults and that their memory could grasp information much faster. This he noted was due to their intellectual development that is highly facilitated by the daytime sleeping. Referring to Piaget, Teresa, et al., (2008) noted that he had recommended that children should have a period of sleeping on a daily basis during the day as this improves their mental and intellectual development. According to Gribbin et al., (2011) children are always born having the basic mental structure that acts as the basis of all and subsequent knowledge and all the learning process throughout the child’s life. Piaget (1936) believed that if the child’s development is not carefully monitored, then this is what results in some children giving wrong answers in school. This is a result of poor mental development hence it leads to negative responses. Arguably, therefore, when children get enough rest during the day, especially after meals, their brains usually develops very fast and their thinking ability improves making them respond correctly and positively to the environment and the changes (Epstein & Mardon, 2007). It is observed that those children that get a day’s nap when they are still toddlers perform very well in school and thinks faster than those who do not (Gribbin et al., 2011). A recent study published by Knauth and Ilmarinen (2012) highlighted that a higher number of children who takes a nap after being usually taught have shown high level of learning and they grasp information so fast than those who did not take a little sleep. Such children also demonstrate a high level of memorization of the information given; usually most of them can remember what they learned twenty-four hours ago. This study involved a group of children from a day care school where there were two groups of children (Knauth & Ilmarinen, 2012). Some children were given time to sleep for one hour while the other group was not given napping period. This was to test the ability of the children to recall information they were given the previous lesson. From this experimental incidence, it was noted that those children who napped had a higher ability to remember what they were taught than those who did not sleep. This, therefore, further affirmed the statement given by Knauth and Ilmarinen (2012) on how vital is napping on young children and their brain development. In their study Gribbin et, al., (2011) emphasized that a day’s naps for the children usually improve their memory functions. This enhances their thinking and ability to internalize information very fast than the children that do not get a day time’s nap. The study also revealed that long naps are more effective to the children than the short naps, and they highly improves their alertness than when the children sleep for a short period. Moreover, it improves their eventual performance and response to different reactions and environmental changes (Epstein & Mardon, 2007). In another study by Touchette (2007) during the tracking of some Canadian kids ageing between two and six years, the researcher found out that those children who rarely gets a sleeping time during the day when they are still toddlers typically perform very poorly on neurodevelopment tests when they later grow up. This study was conducted by giving parents of the sample kids actigraph devices to measure their napping times in response to their neurological development. One group of the kids, the parents were told to make them not sleep after the meals for seven days. After the period, the kids neurological development was tested by a medic. The results clearly indicated that those children, who napped during the day, had greater neurodevelopment than those who lacked the nap (Touchette, 2007). The same according to the study applies to the kids whose sleep improves after six years. From the above study it is evident that there is a period of a child’s life that if they are deprived of some sleep especially after meals, there will be some harmful effects on the child’s thinking and reasoning abilities. This is what leads to poor performance later during the child’s school life. Human behaviors and some learning skills usually tend to be vital to an individual’s future endeavors. Behavioral theories according to Neuman and associates (2014) often helps individuals especially children to be able to break down complex tasks such as learning skills. Through the nurturing of a child’s behavior, the individual become able to understand their environment well and also how to respond to changes and other environmental reactions (Epstein & Mardon, 2007). In the context of napping in children, when children get some hours of sleeping during the day, it is noted that they often have refined behaviors and are generally disciplined as their minds are not usually exhausted, and the nap gives them enough brain rest that is very critical in their intellectual development (Touchette, 2007). Kurcinka (2007) in one of her journal articles in giving responses to the effects of lack of enough sleep on toddlers noted that kids who do not get enough days’ nap are usually chronically restless and experiences difficulty in dealing with their feelings. They may have a hazardous temper that may lead them to doing some dangerous activities or on some occasions they often experience the acute absence of persistence. Such kids may be blundering and clumsy, and will likewise be more wired and excited in play even at wrong times (Neuman et al., 2014). This lack of sleep according to the other will make the kids be overtired and eventually leads to poor performance in their academics when they enrolled in school. This is because, as a young mind, it will get exhausted before it maturely develops hence the child finds it challenging to understand and memorize things in school (Brown, 2002). This will, therefore, affect their cognitive functioning of the kid who had been discussed hence they are prone to commit senseless errors. Such child is also noted to talk too much and always bug their parents unnecessarily, their siblings and even classmates in school (Teresa et al., 2008). The child may always try to empower himself and regain focus in different areas even in some that are not right. In social circumstances, an overtired kid may have more clashes with various children over very silly and simple matters that is he gets angered very fast and often reacts very fast (Neuman et al., 2014). They are usually very bossy, quite demanding on what they want and not always free and open to being guided on what to do or how to behave. They are, therefore, unruly starting from the tender age, and they tend to grow up with such traits even in their future lives. From this illustration by Kurcinka (2007) clearly shows that if children lack enough daytime sleep, they tend to develop some behaviors that are not acceptable in the society (McLeod, 2009). It, therefore, emphasizes the fact that napping in children goes a long way I am helping them develop good behavior and morals. Those children that avoid a day’s sleep usually become ill-mannered due to the immature development of their minds (Epstein & Mardon, 2007). According to McLeod (2009), Kurcinka also noted that 20 to 25 percent of children with ADD might likewise have a slumber disorder, however, this is not to say that all children diagnosed with ADD or ADHD are actually sleep deprived, yet it would be insightful, when we see that kind of conduct, to look first at the amount of slumber that a kid gets (Touchette, 2007). From the review literature, it is therefore very vital that enhancing sleep could improve individual’s behavior, cognitive functions that will enhance their performance and their social-emotional response (Neuman et al., 2014). In the final study by Mcgrath (2003), the researcher used both descriptive and inferential statistics in the analysis of the data that helped discover miscoded values, missing information/ data and other problems in the data set for the study. This also helped in the easy understanding and interpretation of the implication of the study. The cross-sectional sample was chosen for the study due to its truthfulness, and also it is less prone to error. Data was obtained for a daytime nap patterns in 55 healthy and bouncing children whose ages varied from 1 -2 toddlers and those between 2-5 years old (Teresa et al., 2008). These results were obtained over a one week period and the children included those in the children’s day care facilities, and the sample contained 20 boys and 25 girls. To measure and record the sleeping patterns, the children wore ankle actigraph watches. The actigraphy provides continuous motion data using the microprocessor that was able to sense movement with a piezoelectric beam accelerator. This helped in testing of the napping patterns, the amount of sleep and the neuropsychological testing (Knauth & Illmarinen, 2012). The caretakers and parents during the study were able to complete the behavior ratings among the children that had the nap and those who did not sleep. The emotional developments of the children before and after the experiment were also tested, and results recorded. The data in the study also included the variations in the sleeping times, there are those kids that were to sleep for a short period of 20 minutes while others slept for about two hours, then the results on their behaviors after the naps was recorded (Knauth & Illmarinen, 2012). Mental ability of the kids was also tested after the experiment. Moreover, their ability to recall what they have learned was tested by asking them some questions. This was done for those who napped and those who did not. The results of the relationship of the children’s improvement in intellect and daytime sleep were recorded (Mcgrath, 2003). The results from the sample study was then analyzed using the Action4 software and Sadehs algorithm to deduce the correlation that existed between napping in the children and the changes in their cognitive functions, behavioral changes and the on the emotional responses. At the end of the week, the actigraphs were copied and examined against the nap diaries. A follow-up phone call was made to parents to inquire for any missing data or to resolve any discrepancies that occurred in the recording. If the actigraphy was off for three hours. On any given day of recording, that days actigraphy recording was not analyzed. This was observed to occur with two children in the study (Teresa et al., 2008). Personal Statement The reviewed literature generated a couple of questions especially in regards to the effect of napping in children. One of the preeminent questions is to what age should the children be allowed to take naps after means especially during the day? Further, what effect does napping have on the children’s night sleep? Do preschoolers still need naps especially after meals? To this end, no surprises were noted as the various literature reviewed had a less similar line of argument and emphasis. Observably, daytime naps in children especially after meals, aid in fast cognitive development which in turn enhances the children’s thinking abilities, their behavioral and emotional reactions. The reviewed literature somehow defines the directional flow of further areas of study and research. In reference to the questions that were ignited in the review, further study would possibly take the direction of determining what particular age napping should be admissible for children. Comparatively, what impact (s) does napping have on preschoolers or the school attending children? Another area that can be of interest for study is the correlation between napping in children IQ development. That is, do those children who often do naps have high IQ? Reference Brown, R. (2002). Society of Pediatric Psychology Presidential Address: Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Vol. 24 (10): 191-201 Epstein, L., & Mardon, S. (2007). The Harvard Medical School guide to a good nights sleep. New York: McGraw-Hill. Fenley, W. (2011). Book Review: Education in the Inquiring Society: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. Australian Journal of Education, Vol. 5: 102-104 Goldman, J. (2010). Advances in Clinical Child Psychology (Book): Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, Vol. 21: 375-376. Gribbin, C., Watamura, S., Cairns, A., Harsh, J., & Lebourgeois, M. (2011). The cortisol awakening response (CAR) in 2- to 4-year-old children: Effects of acute nighttime sleep restriction, wake time, and daytime napping, New York, McGraw Publishers Knauth, P., & Ilmarinen, J. (2012). Daytime napping and its effects on alertness and short-term memory performance in shift workers. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, Vol. 18: 341-345. Mcgrath, P. (2003). Commentary: The Journal of Pediatric Psychology Should Adopt the CONSORT Statement as a Way of Improving the Evidence Base in Pediatric Psychology. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Vol. 33: 169-171. Neuman SB, Kaefer T, Pinkham A, and Strouse G. 2014. Can Babies Learn to Read? A Randomized Trial of Baby Media: Journal of Educational Psychology DOI: 10.1037/a0035937. Retrieved from http://www.parentingscience.com/intelligence.html#sthash.mmnyvTtp.dpuf. McLeod, S. A. (2009). Jean Piaget: Simply Psychology: Journal of Educational Psychology Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html. Teresa, M. Ward, Caryl Gay, Thomas, F. Abbey Alkon and Kathryn A. Lee (2008) Sleep and Napping Patterns in 3-to-5-year old Children Attending Full-Day Childcare Centers: Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Vol. 33(6): 666-672. Touchette E (2007). Associations between sleep duration patterns and behavioral/cognitive functioning at school entry. Sleep Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Vol.30 (9): 1213-1219. Retrieved from http://www.parentingscience.com/intelligence.html#sthash.mmnyvTtp.dpuf Weissbluth, M (2009). Naps in children: Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, Vol.33 (5): 132-132. Read More