Random Thoughts

I just had to share this! I came across a news article in Yahoo.com and since there was a time that Ate A didn't want to take a nap. We would always fight just for her to take a nap and I almost gave up. Good thing I didn't because as Yahoo! said, there are benefits beyond rest especially for kids. Daytime Nap Has Benefits Beyond Rest for Kids MONDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) -- Children's nap time is not only beneficial to caregivers who may need a break. For children aged 4 to 5 years, taking a nap during the day may help reduce hyperactivity, anxiety and depression, new study findings show. In the study of 62 children categorized as either napping (77 percent) or non-napping (23 percent), researchers found that those who didn't take daytime naps had higher levels of anxiety, hyperactivity and depression. The study findings were presented June 8 at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, in Seattle. Children who took naps did so an average of 3.4 days a week, the researchers found. The study data was based on the parents' or caregivers' reporting of the children's typical weekday and weekend bedtime/wake time and napping patterns. Family demographics and behavioral assessments of the children were also included in the analysis. "There is a lot of individual variability in [the age] when children are ready to give up naps. I would encourage parents to include a quiet 'rest' time in their daily schedule that would allow children to nap if necessary," lead author Brian Crosby, a postdoctoral fellow of psychology at Pennsylvania State University, said in a news release from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. An optimal age for children to stop napping hasn't yet been determined, Crosby noted. Article grabbed here.