How much hours of sleep do adults need at night * your answer?
National Sleep Foundation guidelines. See Full Reference advise that healthy adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night. Babies, young children, and teens need even more sleep to enable their growth and development. People over 65 should also get 7 to 8 hours per night.
Despite these trends, the research mostly agrees that six hours of sleep is not enough for most adults. Experts recommend that most adults need at least seven hours of sleep every night.
Is 3 hours enough? This will depend largely on how your body responds to resting this way. Some people are able to function on only 3 hours very well and actually perform better after sleeping in bursts. Though many experts do still recommend a minimum of 6 hours a night, with 8 being preferable.
But five hours of sleep out of a 24-hour day isn't enough, especially in the long term. According to a 2018 study of more than 10,000 people, the body's ability to function declines if sleep isn't in the seven- to eight-hour range.
Older adults need about the same amount of sleep as all adults—7 to 9 hours each night. But, older people tend to go to sleep earlier and get up earlier than they did when they were younger.
The topic of young children's bedtimes is “very badly” researched, he says. That said: “9pm is a sensible approach.” For teenagers, Kelley says that, generally speaking, 13- to 16-year-olds should be in bed by 11.30pm.
Age Group | Recommended Hours of Sleep Per Day | |
---|---|---|
Newborn | 0–3 months | 14–17 hours (National Sleep Foundation)1 No recommendation (American Academy of Sleep Medicine)2 |
School Age | 6–12 years | 9–12 hours per 24 hours2 |
Teen | 13–18 years | 8–10 hours per 24 hours2 |
Adult | 18–60 years | 7 or more hours per night3 |
If you nap in the morning, the sleep consists primarily of light NREM (and possibly REM) sleep. In contrast, napping later in the evening, as your sleep drive increases, will comprise more deep sleep. This, in turn, may disrupt your ability to fall asleep at night. Therefore, napping late in the day is discouraged.
How Much Sleep Is Too Much? Sleep needs can vary from person to person, but in general, experts recommend that healthy adults get an average of 7 to 9 hours per night of shuteye. If you regularly need more than 8 or 9 hours of sleep per night to feel rested, it might be a sign of an underlying problem, Polotsky says.
We do not recommend sleeping for only one hour at night. Some research suggests that lost sleep can take years off your life and that you may not be able to catch up on the lost hours of rest.
How do you pull an all nighter?
- Take a nap. ...
- Caffeine – yes or no? ...
- Order some pizza in. ...
- Avoid procrastination. ...
- Take regular breaks. ...
- Keep yourself stimulated. ...
- Set some alarms. ...
- Do some exercise.
This is because our brain is constantly forming new connections while we are awake. The longer we are awake, the more active our minds become. Scientists believe that this is partly why sleep deprivation has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression. However, there are negative outcomes of this, too.

For adults, getting less than seven hours of sleep a night on a regular basis has been linked with poor health, including weight gain, having a body mass index of 30 or higher, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and depression.
There is a persistent myth in popular media claiming we can't catch up on a lack of sleep. However, significant evidence suggests we can in fact recover from the effects of acute sleep debt by getting extra sleep.
Elon Musk says he is "fairly nocturnal" and only sleeps about 6 hours a day. He told The Full Send podcast he usually goes to bed about 3 a.m. and gets up around 9 a.m. The Tesla CEO says he has a "bad habit" of immediately checking his phone after waking up.
Improved sleep quality
Sleeping naked certainly removes any possibility of pajama-induced overheating interfering with a good night's rest. It's the absolute final move in shedding layers to stay cool. “There's no question that cooler is better than warmer for overall sleeping,” says Dr. Drerup.
As people get older, they have less energy to get things done each day. Usually, personal hygiene (specifically bathing) is one of those things that gets neglected. So how often should an elderly bathe? To avoid any skin conditions or infections, a senior should bathe at least once or twice a week.
As people age, they tend to sleep more lightly than when they were younger. Waking up during the night due to achy joints or the need to use the restroom becomes commonplace. Many seniors compensate for this lost sleep by catching a restorative nap during the day. That's normal.
As a general guideline, Dr. Eagar advises not allowing single dating before age sixteen. “There's an enormous difference between a fourteen- or fifteen-year- old and a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old in terms of life experience,” he says.
The body releases the sleep hormone melatonin later at night in teens than in kids and adults. This resets the body's internal sleep clock so that teens fall asleep later at night and wake up later in the morning. Most teens just aren't sleepy enough for bed before 11 p.m.
What time should a 17 year old go to bed in the summer?
Honaker: Most teens are asked to wake up too early during the school year, so it is nice to allow them to sleep on a more natural schedule over the summer. Typically, teens are tired between 10 and 11 p.m., and wake naturally between 8 and 9 a.m. There is, of course, some natural individual variability.
Preschoolers (3-5 years): 11-13 hours. School-aged children (6-13 years): 9-11 hours. Teenagers (14-17): 8-10 hours. Adults (18 and older): 7-9 hours.
Teens (14-17 years) require about eight to 10 hours of nightly sleep. Adults: Between the ages of 18 and 64, adults should aim for seven to nine hours of nightly sleep. If you're older than 65, you may need a little less: seven to eight hours is recommended.
“Women are also multi-taskers, and they do a lot at once. Because they use more of their actual brain, they may need a little bit more sleep than men. It is still debatable, but some experts say that women need twenty more minutes on average than men usually need.”
It's the body's way of recharging and healing. For some people, it's also a great escape. Dreaming is fun, and sleep is a way to get away from problems in the real world. Sleep enthusiasts know that a good snooze is a great cure for things like stress, anxiety, and a bad mood.