Nighttime sleep and daytime nap patterns in school age children with and without asthma

This research examines subjective and objective report of naps and nighttime sleep in 9- to 11-year-old children with and without asthma.

This between subjects study collected prospective self-report diary and objective actigraphy measures of sleep from 27 children with and 27 without asthma during a 7-day/6-night at-home monitoring period.

Thirty-two percent of participants reported daytime naps. Nappers were more likely to be children with asthma (12/27 vs. 5/27, p = 0.04) even though the children with asthma did not report being more tired, sleepy, or less alert in the morning. Nappers did not differ from non-nappers on self-report measures of overall sleep quality or number of awakenings but were documented, via objective measures, to have later (clock time: 23:05 vs. 22:21, p = 0.04) and more variable (Levine's Test for Equality of Variances: F = 10.68, p = 0.002) sleep onset times than non-nappers. Sleep offset times did not differ between the nappers vs. non-nappers, therefore, nappers had fewer total minutes of nighttime sleep than did the non-nappers (437 vs. 465, p = 0.04). Later (clock time: 23:01 vs. 22:15, p = 0.01) sleep onset times were also documented in minority vs. Caucasian children.

Napping appears a more common behavior than expected especially in children with asthma or of minority ethnicity but the reasons are unclear. Self-report measures may not capture important sleep characteristics that objective measures can identify. Strategies to reduce late and variable bedtimes of all children are needed given our awareness of the negative cognitive, emotional, and behavioral consequences of poor sleep in children.