Napping Behavior in Adolescents: Consensus, Dissents, and Recommendations

Early school starting times and delayed circadian rhythms contribute to build a chronic sleep restriction condition in adolescents. Napping might be a compensatory strategy to nocturnal sleep restriction. Here, we reviewed literature to address positive and negative outcomes and to propose future orientations in nap prescription for adolescent's daily life. Databases from PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar were used with the search terms: “nap” or “adolescent” or “daytime nap” or “daytime sleep” or “adolescent daytime nap” or “adolescent daytime sleep”. Only articles published in English were considered eligible to integrate this review. The biphasic sleep pattern (nocturnal sleep with daytime naps) may help adolescents maintain their neurocognitive functions and perform their daily activities. While napping is beneficial to optimal levels of alertness and daytime functioning, prolonged naps are associated with sleep inertia, metabolic alterations, and importantly, can be pushing adolescent's bedtimes to even later timings. These negative effects are observed particularly after long and mistimed naps. The role of sleep restriction in triggering napping behavior in adolescents is well understood, although there is no consensus that explains napping preference in this age range. Shorter nap duration during afternoon is more recommended to adolescents providing mental and physical benefits without affecting nocturnal sleep duration.