How Much Sleep Do I Need?

How Many Hours of Sleep Do You Need?

The amount of sleep a person needs depends on many things, including their age. In general:

• Infants (ages 0-3 months) need 14-17 hours a day.
• Infants (ages 4-11 months) need 12-15 hours a day
• Toddlers (ages 1-2 years) need about 11-14 hours a day.
• Preschool children (ages 3-5) need 10-13 hours a day.
• School-age children (ages 6-13) need 9-11 hours a day.
• Teenagers (ages 14-17) need about 8-10 hours each day.
• Most adults need 7 to 9 hours, although some people may need as few as 6 hours or as many as 10 hours of sleep each day.
• Older adults (ages 65 and older) need 7-8 hours of sleep each day.
• Women in the first 3 months of pregnancy often need several more hours of sleep than usual.

But experts say that if you feel drowsy during the day, even during boring activities, you haven't had enough sleep.

Sleep Deprivation and Sleep Debt

The amount of sleep a person needs goes up if they’ve missed sleep in previous days. If you don’t have enough, you’ll have a "sleep debt," which is much like being overdrawn at a bank. Eventually, your body will demand that you start to repay the debt.

We don't really adapt to getting less sleep than we need. We may get used to a schedule that keeps us from getting enough sleep, but our judgment, reaction time, and other functions will still be off.

Why You Need REM Sleep and Deep Sleep

There are four stages of sleep, based on how active your brain is. The first two are light.

Stage three is “deep sleep,” when your brain waves slow down and it’s harder for you to wake up. During these periods, your body repairs tissues, works on growth and development, boosts your immune system, and builds up energy for the next day.

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, or stage R, usually starts about 90 minutes after you fall asleep. Brain activity increases, your eyes dart around quickly, and your pulse, blood pressure, and breathing speed up. This is also when you do most of your dreaming.

REM sleep is important for learning and memory. It’s when your brain handles information you’ve taken in during the day and stores it in your long-term memory.

Signs of Sleep Deprivation

Common signs that you haven’t gotten enough sleep include:

• Feeling drowsy or falling asleep during the day, especially during calm activities like sitting in a movie theater or driving
• Falling asleep within 5 minutes of lying down
• Short periods of sleep during waking hours (microsleeps)
• Needing an alarm clock to wake up on time every day
• Feeling groggy when you wake up in the morning or throughout the day (sleep inertia)
• Having a hard time getting out of bed every day
• Mood changes
• Forgetfulness
• Trouble focusing on a task
• Sleeping more on days when you don’t have to get up at a certain time

How to Know if You’re Getting Enough Sleep

To find out whether you’re getting enough sleep at night, ask yourself:

• Do you feel healthy and happy on your current sleep schedule?
• Do you feel like you get enough sleep to be productive?
• Do you ever feel sleepy when going about your day?
• Do you rely on caffeine to get through the day?