How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?

‘Sleep is the golden string that binds health and body together’.

The quality and amount of sleep you get defines your physical and mental
health. Sleep affects every function of our body like physical balance,
emotional state, the function of brain and heart, impact on body weight, and
so on. So one can easily conclude that good sleep can bring in so much positive change.

Our lives have become very hectic due to everyday work and busy schedules. This means, even a minimal loss of sleep can cause a lot of disabilities. Our whole mood, energy, and ability to handle pressure, all depends on sleep.

Sleep deficiency can even cause severe risks of heart and kidney diseases, hypertension, diabetes, and stroke, so getting a sufficient amount of sleep is necessary for everyone to maintain proper health and well-being. Sleep enables body healing after a long tiring day and improves concentration.

How Much Sleep Does a Human Body Need?

According to the WHO and the National Institute of Health, average adults need approximately 8 hours of undisturbed sleep but a survey has found that
adults sleep less than 7 hours per night.

It goes without saying but your sleep schedule should be your first priority.

But everybody has different sleep requirements and it varies from person to person, and other factors contribute. So let’s have a look at them.

Age:

Adults need a total of 7–9 hours of sleep whereas teenagers and children require more than adults.
This tells us that sleep requirements do change with age. Below is a brief of much sleep you should be getting with respect to your age.

• 3-months old 11–17 hours of sleep
• 4–11-months old 10–15 hours of sleep
• 1–2 years’ old 11–14 hours of sleep
• 3–5 years’ old 10–13 hours of sleep
• 6–13 years’ old 9–12 hours of sleep
• 14–17 years’ old 8–10 hours of sleep
• 18–25 years’ old 7–10 hours of sleep
• 26–64 years’ old 7–9 hours of sleep
• 65 years’ and older 6–8 hours of sleep

Now that we have an idea about how much sleep your body requires looking at trends and various statistical studies. The real answer could vary, as it depends on person to person.

The best way to find your sleep needs is to figure out how energetic and
fresh you feel in a day starting from the moment you wake up till your
normal bedtime.

Keep a track of your sleep schedule, how much you
slept last night and the night before?

This will give you a clearer view of how much sleep is needed by your body to function normally.

Pro Tip: You should also track the times you are sleeping, along with the duration of sleep.

Play around with times, and amounts, and see what fits you best. This process can take a bit of time, but it’s a good point to start and figure out your sleeping trends and patterns.

Along with the age, there are some other factors, which plan a vital role, in helping you determine the amount of sleep you need. Let’s have a look at them.

Sleep Quality:

More than the amount, the quality is which matters the most. When you say, you need at least eight hours of sleep, it actually means eight hours of quality sleep.

There are several ways and little hacks in which you can improve the quality of your sleep. It includes, and not limited to lighting conditions, timing, posture, room temperature, diet, mental stress level, hormonal imbalances etc.

Here is an interesting and insightful post you can read about improving your sleep quality.

Pregnancy:

A lot of changes occur in a women’s body during this
phase. In early pregnancy, body needs more sleep than regular.

So, it can be a contributing factor, and we would recommend that you consult a professional if you are feeling changes in your body, and feeling sleep deprived.

Mental Stress:

Research have shown that people who perform more mental and stressful tasks will require more amount of quality sleep unlike those who mostly have physical tasks.

So if your job, induces more stress and cortisol, you might have to get that extra hour in, to help your body cope.

Signs That You Are Not Getting Sufficient Sleep:

Figuring out whether or not you are getting enough sleep can be a challenging tasks, as it involves so many different systems working together. But we compiled a list for you, which you help you better understand, if you are getting proper sleep or not.

Now these may or may not be caused by your lack of sleep, but generally most of the time are a good indicator of absence of proper sleeping pattern in place.

• Dizziness and fatigue
• Depression and mood swings
• Distorted concentration and memory loss
• Reduced skills and problem management
• Stress and anxiety
• Premature aging
• Weaker immune system
• Decreased Sex Drive
• Heart Diseases

Tips to get Proper Sleep:

Now that we’ve gone over the fact that how you may need a certain amount of quality sleep. Often people will find themselves shy of the number, that they should be putting in yo

Here are some effective ways to help improve the quality of your sleep, and improve your health.

1. Cut down to medications if they are not important:

Medicines have a lot of side-effects. Takings medicines which are not really required, tend to imbalance certain chemicals in your bloodstream, which can be a cause of improper sleep health.

2. Maintain your normal Sleep Schedule:

Sleeping and getting up at the same time everyday enables your
body to get habituated with that schedule. This not only helps you add structure in your daily routine, but your sleeping health improves overtime. Your body is better able to go into deep sleep, and recover from tiredness if you sleep and wake up at the same times constantly.

3. Exercise Regularly:

Regular exercise can improve your health and sleeping disorders.
30 minutes of exercise daily morning can make a big difference in the hormonal levels in your body.

Properly coordinated workouts help your body function properly throughout the day, and get a healthy and sound sleep at night.

4. Balanced Diet:

Cut down to smoking, alcohol and caffeine at first if you want to get
proper sleep. Extra fats and carbs should also be avoided. A Good
diet with all the essential nutrients and vitamins improves your system, and helps you get a better sleep at night.

5. Sleeping Environment:

Your bedroom should be dark, calm, quiet and cool so your body and mind can relax and help you to sleep properly.

Though it sounds simple, yet it can be a great little hack to improve the quality of your sleep.

6. Developing a bedtime routine:

Take a hot water bath, read a book, lay calmly instead of harsh
conversations. Avoid using phones or laptop at least 40 minutes before you plan to sleep. A small session of meditation is proven to enhance the quality of your sleep.

7. Choosing the perfect mattress:

A supportive, comfortable and good quality mattress with comfy
pillows and beddings is essential to get quality sleep. So choose
your mattress wisely.

Some Myths and Facts About Sleep

Here are some facts and myths about sleep, that will help you to better assess your sleep health, and arrive to an optimum sleep schedule.

Myth: Your body can adapt quickly to a different sleeping schedule.
Fact: A lot of people have difficulty in changing their regular sleeping
schedule. It can take more than a week or 10 days to properly adjust with
different time zones and change your sleeping schedule.

Myth: More sleep can cure the problem of fatigue.
Fact: What matters is the quality of sleep. You can still feel fresh with 5
hours of sleep if the quality of sleep is deep and undisturbed while
still feel tired even after 8 hours of poor sleep.

Myth: You can make up the lost sleep by sleeping more in the
weekends.
Fact: Think of it as eating just on the weekends, and staying hungry on the weekdays. Doesn’t work like that. Your body needs to shut down each day to repair and work on maintain the healthy balance of hormones and other vital functions to help you live better.

Myth: 8 hours of sleep is quite sufficient for everybody.
Fact: Every human has different sleep requirements some needs 15
hours of sleep while 5 hours of sleep is sufficient for many.

Conclusion:

Sleep is a major necessity of our life. Our body and mind requires
sleep for proper functioning with full potential. Hence, it becomes really essential to get adequate and a healthy sleep regime.

The amount of sleep your body needs can depends on a lot of factors including any medical conditions, your age, your stress levels, and more. As the answer depends varies from person to person, the best course of action would be to test and see amount your body needs.

But it would be safe to assume that a majority of adults need at least 8 hours of quality sleep.

How much hours do you need ?