How Much Sleep Do We Need?
The amount of sleep each person needs depends on many factors, including age. For most adults, 7 to 8 hours a night appears to be the best amount of sleep, although some people may need as few as 5 hours or as many as 10 hours of sleep each day. Teenagers need about 9-10 hours on average.
Women in the first 3 months of pregnancy often need several more hours of sleep than usual. The amount of sleep a person needs also increases if he or she has been deprived of sleep in previous days. Getting too little sleep creates a “sleep debt,” which is much like being overdrawn at a bank. Eventually, your body will demand that the debt be repaid. While we may get used to a sleep-depriving schedule, our judgment, reaction time, and other functions are still impaired.
People who sleep seven or eight hours a night are healthier and live longer. Sleeping less than seven hours is associated with a range of health problems including obesity, heart disease, depression and impaired immune function.
The National Sleep Foundation recently updated its sleep recommendations based on age.
