How Much Sleep Do We Need?

How Much Sleep Do We Need?

We need sleep to live a healthy life. On average, we need around seven to eight hours of sleep a night. Most teens need about 8½ to more than 9 hours of sleep each night. The right amount of sleep is essential for anyone who wants to do well on a test or play sports without tripping over their feet. Excessive sleeping can cause illness.

Why Is Sleep Important?

This sleep deficit impacts everything from a person's ability to pay attention in class to his or her mood. Research shows that more than 20% of high school students fall asleep in class, and experts have been able to tie lost sleep to poorer grades. Lack of sleep also damages teens' ability to do their best in athletics.

Slowed responses and concentration from lack of sleep don't just affect school or sports performance, though. The fact that sleep deprivation slows reaction times can be life threatening for people who drive.

Lack of sleep has also been linked to emotional troubles, such as feelings of sadness and depression. Sleep helps keep us physically healthy, too, by slowing our body's systems enough to re-energize us after everyday activities.

Sleep benefits to our immune system, nervous system and development

Immune system. Sleep is essential to the immune system. Without adequate sleep, the immune system becomes weak, and the body becomes more vulnerable to infection and disease.

Nervous system. Sleep is also a time of rest and repair to neurons. Neurons are the freeways of the nervous system that carry out both voluntary commands, like moving your arm, and involuntary commands, like breathing and digestive processes.

Brain cellular repair, replenishment and growth. Recent studies have suggested that sleep downtime of the brain, so active during the day, may replenish dwindling energy stores that cells need to function, repair cellular damage caused by our busy metabolism, and even grow new nerve cells in the brain.

Hormone release. Many hormones, substances produced to trigger or regulate particular body functions, are timed to release during sleep or right before sleep. Growth hormones, for example, are released during sleep, vital to growing children but also for restorative processes like muscle repair.

Sleep deprivation and how it affects your life

How do you know if you’re getting the sleep you need? Sleep deprivation occurs when you are not sleeping the right amount for your individual needs. Signs you may be suffering from sleep deprivation include:

1. difficulty waking up in the morning
2. poor performance in school, on the job, or in sports
3. increased clumsiness
4. difficulty making decisions
5. falling asleep during work or class
6. feeling especially moody or irritated

Sleep deprivation can be dangerous not only to you but others, since it affects motor skills like driving. Chronic sleep deprivation is also thought to cause long term changes to the body, which contribute to increased risk for obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

Find out how much sleep you need

So how much sleep do you need? A rule of thumb is to consider how you normally feel after sleep. Do you feel refreshed and alert, or groggy and exhausted? If you don’t feel refreshed, chances are you’re not sleeping enough. Sleep requirements are highly individual and depend on many factors:

1. your age and genetic makeup
2. what you do during your waking hours, including exercise
3. the quality of your sleep
4. Typical Sleep Needs
5. Group

Amount of Sleep Need

Infants: About 16 hours per day of sleep

Babies and toddlers: From 6 months to 3 years: between 10 and 14 hours per day. Infants and young children generally get their sleep from a combination of nighttime sleep and naps.

Children:
Ages 3 to 6: between 10 and 12 hours of sleep
Ages 6 to 9: about 10 hours of sleep
Ages 9 to 12: about 9 hours of sleep

Teenagers: About 9 hours of sleep per night. Teens have trouble getting enough sleep not only because of their busy schedules, but also because they are biologically programmed to want to stay up later and sleep later in the morning, which usually doesn’t mesh with school schedules.

Adults: For most adults, 7 to 8 hours a night appears to be the best amount of sleep.

Older adults: Older adults are also thought to need 7-8 hours of sleep. However, this sleep may be for shorter time spans, is lighter than a younger adult’s, and may include a nap during the day.

Pregnant women: During pregnancy, women may need a few more hours of sleep per night, or find that they need small catnaps during the day.

Getting the sleep you need

How can you make sure you get the sleep you need? A few extra hours here and there if you are sleep deprived might make you feel better for a short time. But it won’t get you the quality sleep you need for the best health. To consistently meet sleep requirements for both deep sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, you need to set the stage for good sleep on a daily basis. This involves:

1. improving your daytime habits
2. creating a better sleep environment
3. avoiding food and drink that might interfere with sleep
4. developing a good bedtime routine