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(C)
A child’s nap often provides a much-needed rest for parents too, time for an uninterrupted phone call, or a rest on the sofa. And naps have to be a good thing for preschoolers, surely, since they need to take a rest and get enough sleep for their brains to develop. Short naps have also been shown to be good for adults -- improving alertness and reaction times.
So it feels counterintuitive for a review of 26 studies to conclude that napping in children over two years of age may not be a good idea after all. The review says that after two years of age, napping is associated with going to sleep later at night, poorer quality sleep and waking earlier. So should we discourage naps in preschool children -- even if they really seem to need one?
Although the review talks about the effects of napping on two-year-olds, most of the evidence in the review actually comes from studies on three-year-olds. Also, the authors of the review article are clear that the research on children’s naps is of poor quality: some studies rely on parents remembering how much their children slept, or are for very short periods.
A study published in the Journal of Attention Disorders in February suffers from some methodological shortcomings (for instance small numbers -- only 28 children between three and four, and only for five days), but is at least a randomized controlled trial, using actigraphs worn on the wrist to objectively measure sleep. It found that children who missed their naps slept better at night and scored higher in studies of memory and attention.
Dr Mark Mahone, one of the authors, says that sleep at night may be a better quality than during daytime napping. Having a sound sleep at night, he says, provides a greater proportion of the slow-wave, restorative sleep that promotes brain development and reinforces what has been learned the day before. The study also found that the children who went without naps did not sleep more at weekends.
I could never get my children to nap, but for parents who can, there is no reason to stop. Mahone says that more research is needed before anyone starts making recommendations, and children’s sleep requirements are known to be variable.
59. The word “counterintuitive” in Paragraph 2 most probably means _______.
A. difficult B. unreasonable C. revolutionary D. meaningless
60. What does the author think of the study published in Attention Disorders?
A. Its objects are too young to take the test. B. Its findings are reliable due to the actigraphs.
C. It has enough objects to produce the results. D. It provides various ways to help adults to take naps.
61. According to Dr Mark Mahone, a better-quality night sleep will result in _______.
A. frequent rests on the sofa B. higher efficiency of learning
C. more serious attention disorders D. fewer daytime naps at weekends
62. The author talks mainly about his or her _______.
A. opinions on whether children need naps B. various systemic studies on children’s naps
C. comments on some studies on children’s naps D. understanding of the functions of children’s naps
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