To address the need for a communication unit, a communication infrastructure, and method that extend battery life, the present invention provides a special page message (200) that is transmitted toward the beginning of a paging slot to indicate what groups of messages will be transmitted in the paging slot. This message allows communication units (e.g., 102–104) to determine near the beginning of the paging slot whether they need to continue monitoring the paging slot for messages or pages directed or of interest to them. The message also allows communication units that continue monitoring the paging slot to determine when they can cease the monitoring. Thus, communication units can return to a power-saving sleep mode more quickly than the prior art.