Longitudinal study on sleep and its problem through preschool and elementary school period

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Afternoon nap is being conducted as a routine at Japanese nursery schools. In a previous study, we found a routine afternoon nap has the effect of delaying the onset of the subsequent nighttime sleep. Nursery school children also reported having more 'difficulty to fall asleep,' more frequent 'staying-up at late night,' less 'not getting enough sleep,' worse 'mood at rising,' and more 'unwillingness to go to their school' compared with kindergartners who have no routine nap schedule. This study investigated whether the sleeping pattern of children who attended nursery schools during preschool age period persists after they entered elementary schools. Sleeping pattern was investigated by a questionnaire with ex-kindergartens and ex-nursery school children through the 1st to 5th grade year by year. Survey revealed that sleeping pattern of delayed sleep onset and short nighttime sleep persisted during younger age grades (i.e., the 1st to 4th) of elementary school in ex-nursery school children, in spite that the nap schedule had already been discontinued. However the severity of the symptoms 'frequent staying-up at late night' and 'bad mood at rising' were not different between ex-kindergartners and ex-nursery school children. These results suggest that sleep pattern of preschool age has significant effect on the development of sleep pattern in the subsequent school ages.