Everyone needs sleep. How much sleep you need can depend on a variety of factors.
Sleeping too little can lead to unwanted side effects such as fatigue, irritability and difficulty concentrating. Too much sleep can have negative effects on your health. According to the CDC, up to one-third adults do not get enough sleep.
How can you determine how much sleep your body needs? Continue reading to learn more.
Calculating your Sleep Needs
You can use general guidelines to calculate how much sleep you require. These guidelines don’t take into account a person’s health, lifestyle, stress level, etc. Some people need more sleep or less than recommended.
Sleep requirements are different for every age group.
- Sleeping time for 0-3 month olds: 14-17 hours per day
- Sleeping time for children aged 4-11 months: 12-15 hours per day
- Sleeping time for a child aged 1-2 years: 11-14 hrs per day
- Sleeping time for children aged 3-5: 10-13 hrs per day
- Sleeping time for children aged 6-13: 9-11 hours per day
- Sleeping 8-10 hours per day for 14-17 year olds
- 18-64 year olds: 7-9 hours per day of sleep
- 65 Years and older: 8 hours of sleep per night
As you can see from the graph, sleep requirements decrease with age. There is also a range of two hours in each recommended sleep requirement. It is because some adults may feel rested after 7 hours, while others might need more like 9.
Tips to Improve Sleep
You can improve your sleep by ensuring you leave enough time during the day to allow for 8 hours of uninterrupted rest. It’s important to set a bedtime and stick to it! Start by counting backwards from the time that you have to get up to determine what time to go to sleep.
It is important to consider the time needed to fall asleep. Most people need between 5-20 minutes. You can improve your sleep by following a structured schedule.
- Exercise every day. Physical activity can help you fall and stay asleep by tiring your body and mind.
- Avoid caffeine and nicotine in the afternoon.
- Avoid screen time two hours before bedtime. Synthetic light from TVs and cellphones can disrupt our circadian rhythm.
- Reduce the amount of light and sound. Make your bedroom sleep friendly for the best sleep. You can do this by using a blackout curtain, a white noise generator, or even an eye mask.
Conclusion
To maintain peak mental and physical health, sleep is essential. Many adults don’t get enough sleep. There are simple steps that you can do at home to get the most sleep possible.
