In 2016, when Cincinnati Reds pitcher Homer Bailey turned his back on home plate while the San Diego Padres’ Wil Myers lit off third base and stole home, Bailey was, as they say in baseball, “caught napping!”

Napping off the field, however, is usually not a bad thing. In fact, a recent study published in the journal SLEEP looked at nearly 3,000 fourth, fifth and sixth graders and found that kids who napped for 30 to 60 minutes at least three days a week are happier, fare better academically (sixth graders who napped tested at higher IQs) and have fewer behavioral problems than their nap-deprived counterparts.

In order to find a group of 3,000 children who regularly napped, the researchers went to China, where napping is socially acceptable. In the U.S. and many other Western countries, children stop napping when they get older, but in China the practice is alive and well in elementary school, middle school, even adulthood.

It’s estimated that up to 20% of children in the U.S. are sleep deprived, in part because of too-early school starting times. If you can’t get your kids’ school to adopt later start times, maybe you can get them to institute a little classroom quiet time after lunch — call it a catnap, a power nap or a micro nap — so kids can recharge for their afternoon lessons. Heck, you might even ask your boss if you can grab a nap. Google, Zappos, Capital One Labs and Ben & Jerry’s all allow it!

Mehmet Oz, M.D., is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D., is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. Email questions to youdocsdaily@sharecare.com.