How Many Hours Sleep Do You Need?
Sleep is the key indicator of well-being and good health. We spend up to 1/3 of our lives sleeping and the general condition of our sleep health is an essential question through our life. Getting plenty of rest each night is important to make your entire day more productive.
But how many hours of sleep do you actually need?
Researches cannot pinpoint an exact measure of sleep needed by individuals at different ages, but the chart of the National Sleep Foundation, which features maximum and minimum ranges for health as well as “recommended” windows, identifies the “rule-of-thumb” amounts specialists agree upon.
- Older adults (65+): Sleep range is 7-8 hours
- Adults (26-64): Sleep range did not change and remains 7-9 hours
- Younger adults (18-25): Sleep range is 7-9 hours
- Teenagers (14-17): Sleep range widened by one hour to 8-10 hours
- School age children (6-13): Sleep range widened by one hour to 9-11 hours
- Preschoolers (3-5): Sleep range widened by one hour to 10-13 hours
- Toddlers (1-2 years): Sleep range widened by one hour to 11-14 hours
- Infants (4-11 months): Sleep range widened two hours to 12-15 hours
- Newborns (0-3 months): Sleep range narrowed to 14-17 hours each day
To open a new chapter where healthier lifestyle and healthier rest are a priority, start by assessing your individual needs.
Ask yourself: How does my body respond to the different amounts of sleep?; Am I experiencing sleep problems?; Do I depend on caffeine to get me through the day?; Do I feel sleepy when driving?; Am I productive after 7 hours of sleep?
If you are experiencing symptoms such as insomnia, sleepiness during the day, difficulty breathing during sleep, leg cramps, snoring, gasping or other symptoms that is preventing you from a good sleep, you should consult your primary care physician.
Above all, listen to your body and mind and make sleep a priority. You should plan sleeping like some other daily activity. So put it on your “daily agenda” and check it off each night.
The 3 Most Common Sleep Disorders
Do you experience difficulty getting or staying asleep? Do you wake up in the morning feeling as if you never truly slept at all or wake in the middle of the night unable to come back to rest? Or, perhaps you feel drained and exhausted every day? If so, you may have one of the most common sleep disorders – insomnia, narcolepsy or EDS.
Insomnia
Insomnia is the most widely recognized sleep disorder. Approximately 50% of all people having experienced symptoms once in a while, and the statistics show that about 10% of Americans are suffering from chronic insomnia.
This sleeping disorder is characterized by trouble falling asleep and waking up often. Individuals with insomnia have at least one of the following symptoms:
- Trouble falling asleep
- Waking earlier in the morning
- Waking up frequently in the middle of the night and having problem going back to sleep
- Feeling tired after waking
Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a disorder that affects the brain’s ability to control its sleep – wakefulness cycle. More than 200,000 Americans suffer from this sleeping disorder. The symptoms are:
- Cataplexy – in narcolepsy this is the term for muscles weakening when you feel strong emotions like anger, surprise or laughter.
- Daytime sleepiness
- Hypnagogic hallucinations – having nightmares or vivid, dreamlike experiences that seem real while falling asleep or waking up
- Sleep disruption
Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS)
Approximately 60% of adult drivers have driven a vehicle half asleep. More than 33% have fallen asleep during driving. Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is a side effect that can be found in several sleep disorders, including narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnea and periodic limb movement disorder. People with EDS have one or more of the following symptoms:
- Difficulty waking in the morning.
- Dozing off during inappropriate times such as in the middle of conversations, or while driving.
- Poor school/job performance.
- Feelings of irritability or anxiety.
Sleep is a critical function and the lack of sleep can have severe consequences. Do you have any of the symptoms of the most common sleep disorder? If you suspect you have such a problem, it is important to seek the expert opinion of your physician.