You need good sleep for proper functioning during the day. Many people don’t realise this until they experience sleep trouble. Sleep is important for a clean-up and balance before you wake up. You may experience brain fog and instability with less than 6 hours of sleep.
Even if you sleep during the weekends to cover it up, the debt is still difficult to cover. It is because you already have a week of tiredness from working on less sleep. You might have heard of some people who only need 4-5 hours daily. They still function actively. Why? Is 6 hours of sleep enough for adults?
It is because sleep needs vary by age and person. However, even if you are convinced 5 hours a day is enough for you, you are successfully accumulating sleep debt without the knowledge of it. So, how much sleep do adults need compared to other life stages?
Sleep Recommendations by Age
How much sleep do you need? How much sleep do adults need compared to children and teenagers? Commonly recommended sleep time for adults is 7-8 hours each night.
| Life Stage | Age | Minimum Sleep Required (hrs) |
| Newborn | 0 – 3 months | 14-18 hours |
| Babies | 4 -12 months | 12-16 hours |
| Toddler | 12 – 24 months | 12-14 hours |
| Kingdergartners | 3 – 6 years | 10-13 hours |
| Schoolkids | 6- 12 years | 9-12 hours |
| Teenager | 13-17 years | 8-10 hours |
| Adult | 18 – 60 years | 7- 9 hours |
| Old Age | 60+ | 7- 8 hours |
What Happens If You Don’t Get Enough Sleep?
Sleeping well isn’t as easy as it seems. Only 40% of adults in the UK said that they regularly have a good sleep experience. 26% have a bad time sleeping, while the remaining 34% gave mixed answers. So how much sleep do adults need to avoid bad sleeping experiences?
Physicians don’t pay as much attention to common sleep health issues as much as it deserves. Sleep is as important for bodily functions as food and water to survive. Sleep disorders go unnoticed even by the patients themselves.
Nappers are known to have bigger brains than non-nappers, which is affected by brain ageing. Sleep has different sleep cycles, instead of just good and bad sleep. To truly answer how much sleep do adults need, we need to study and place these cycles within our sleep duration.
- The first stage is between waking and sleeping, when you first drift off.
- The second stage is when your body starts relaxing for the day. This includes your internal organs like muscles and the heart.
- The third stage is the deepest sleep, which is the recovering stage of the body. This process is the most important during the sleep cycles.
- The final cycle is called REM sleep, where most of the dreaming takes place. This is the time when the body becomes temporarily paralysed.
After a good night’s sleep, you feel refreshed and happier. You look forward to stepping out into the world, and feel more energised than ever. Looking at the morning sun makes you feel grateful and ready for the day.
However, on bad sleep days, you wake up in a bad mood. Your mind is unsorted, and you experience brain fog. You are definitely not ready for the day’s tasks. You feel heavy and regret going to work in this condition. You wake up wondering, how much sleep do adults need to feel energised and motivated?
- Lack of sleep affects your cognitive function. So it’s not just you, but your brain’s actually trying to keep up.
- Sleeping is important for your immune system to catch up. You are at risk of developing illnesses if you don’t get sleep.
- You have mood swings, yawn frequently, experience brain fog and are unable to focus on daily tasks.
Tips for a Good Night’s Sleep: How Much Sleep Do Adults Need
There may be several reasons why you can’t sleep. Circadian cycle, age, sleeping habits, poor lifestyle, underlying health concerns, medications, etc., are all reasons for poor sleep. Natural light exposure is known to enhance sleep quality. Since you work your ass off every day, you deserve to know the practices related to how much sleep do adults need.
- Relaxation methods
If you are subject to constant work and exhaustion, drifting off can be difficult. Switching from frenzy mode to calm mode is something your body’s not very good at. Thus, try some relaxation activities before bedtime. Stretching, listening to music, or even a bath to relax your muscles is a great way to wind down.
- Avoid Screen Time
Screen time before bed is notoriously known to decrease sleep time. It is associated with sleep struggles and a 63% increased risk of insomnia. This disrupts the release of melatonin, an important sleep hormone. It’s because of the harmful light and rays emitted from the mobile or laptop screens.
- Create a Routine
Set a routine for bedtime, waking up and sleeping, much as you would normally do for daytime activities. Sleeping at fixed times will definitely show you results towards ideal sleep hours. This is because the body sleeps in cycles, so it will be easier to drift off when it is used to it. Your body adapts to its internal clock and circadian rhythms.
- Optimise your Conditions
Your environment has a very important impact on your sleep quality, even if your eyes are closed. Don’t add distractions, lights or other things. Some people sleep ideally in open rooms, some need absolute darkness, and some are used to silence. It depends on person to person. Check your bedsheets and pillows, and the room temperature before you sleep.
- Foods for sleeping
Fast food and unhealthy food are bad for sleep. Certain foods before bedtime are good for your sleep cycle. These include milk, bananas, almonds, tart cherries, oats and fatty fish. Make sure to eat and drink well before bedtime. Avoid alcohol, sugar, caffeine, etc. that might disrupt your sleep.
- Exercise Moderately
Vigorous exercise tends to disrupt your natural sleep cycle. Ten to thirty minutes of exercise can balance your body’s timing. It also releases good mood hormones, makes you feel less stressed and happier. Relaxing exercises like yoga, stretching, and Pilates can make you feel lightheaded. Cardio and other types of workouts can also be done. Recovery sleep gets activated, and the fatigue drives you into sleep mode.
- Focus on Sleep Quality
This is a shift from the focus on ‘how much sleep do adults need’. Sleep quality is just as important as sleep time. Sleep quality immediately promotes better sleep health and cures sleep issues. If you feel refreshed and satisfied when you wake up, this means you had quality sleep. Take points for how long it took you to drift off, how many times you woke up, and if you fell asleep again in the morning.
Sleep Disorders
As mentioned earlier, sleep health and sleep disorders are highly disregarded topics. 5 out of 6 British people are suffering from undiagnosed sleep disorders, according to a report. Most people choose to live with them. How much sleep do adults need for their mental health?
Sleep disorders are diagnosed using brain waves, eye conditions, breathing behaviours, etc. Many are divided on the topic: how much sleep do adults need in case of sleep disorders?
There are many known sleep disorders, but they are broadly categorised into their main types.
Imsomnia
Acute insomnia, chronic insomnia, and terminal insomnia are some of its subcategories. Acute insomnia is easily treated, while chronic insomnia can stay for years. Insomnia is related to difficulty falling or staying asleep, or even staying awake throughout the night. You might feel divided between how much sleep do you need versus how much sleep you are actually getting.
Sleep Apnea
You have difficulty breathing while you are sleeping. There are various breathing-related sleep disorders, like sleep-related hypoventilation.
Hypersomnia
This is characterised by feeling tired and sleepy during the day despite sleeping at night. Narcolepsy occurs when your brain has lost control over your sleep-wake cycle.
Parasomnias
These are N-REMS or REM-related disorders like physical movements or verbal actions, sleepwalking, hallucinations, etc.
Movement during Sleep Disorders
Restless Legs Syndrome, sleep bruxism and periodic limb movement are common types. These are involuntary movements during sleep, like jerks or urges. Possible reasons include iron deficiency and pregnancy.
Factors That Determine How Much Sleep Adults Need
If you continue to feel off and sluggish during the day, it’s time to rethink how much sleep you actually need. There are no generic answers to how much sleep do adults need. If you are desperate for answers, ask yourself some questions.
- Are you showing any symptoms of an illness you might have but haven’t diagnosed yet? Or do you have an existing chronic illness?
- Are you feeling tired or experiencing sleep troubles noticeably after a medication addition or change?
- Are you super active during the day or especially inactive?
- Are any new or existing surroundings, like distractions or even a new curtain, disturbing your sleep?
- Are you experiencing hormonal or weight changes?
- Are you sometimes staying awake through the night, or having trouble sleeping during the day? Maybe even experiencing trouble or taking longer to fall asleep?
- Has your screen time increased, or are you required to work extra hours in front of the computer?
- Did you recently add coffee to stay alert or even alcohol to your daily intake?
- Did you recently choke or stop breathing while sleeping?
- Is your sleep schedule inconsistent? Do you wake up early in the morning but sleep in late during the weekends?
- Have you been feeling stressed recently, mentally or physically?
So, by now you might have figured out how much sleep adults need. Fitting the above metrics and information within your lifestyle can help you see the broader picture. Having any of these signs means that you are struggling with how much sleep you need.
If you are worried that you are experiencing sleeping problems or even more serious sleep disorders, make sure to seek medical help immediately. Continued sleep problems can also cause serious chronic disease, because your immunity is not being charged. It is high time we treat sleeping disorders with urgency and care.
How many hours of sleep do women need?
Both adult women and men need 7-9 hours of sleep daily. Although some studies have recommended 10- 20 minutes more for women. This is because women engage in more complex brain activity during the day.
What is the minimum amount of sleep needed for brain function?
7 hours is the minimum number of hours of sleep needed by an adult. It is because the body is in an internal recovery and cleaning phase. Your brain can experience brain fog, lower concentration, or even bad memory.
Is 6 hours of sleep enough?
7 hours is only the minimum threshold for daily sleep hours. Sleeping 6 hours means your immunity is not as efficient as it should be. This puts you at risk of many diseases and even mental disorders. This happens because of using electronic devices late at night, working overtime and other bad habits.
My grandmother sleeps only 5-6 hours every night. She says she is old and needs only this much sleep. What should I do?
Older people sleep less because of a shifting internal clock. But medical institutions still recommend 7-8 hours of sleep, no matter how old he/she is. Try gently convincing your grandmother to sleep earlier or wake up later, whichever applies. No matter how convinced a person feels by sleeping less than 7 hours, they are still in sleep debt.
What is the 10-5-3-2-1 rule for sleep?
It is actually the 10-3-2-1-0 rule for sleep, a popular guideline by Dr Jess Andrade. This means 10 hours without caffeine, 3 hours without food or alcohol, 2 hours of relaxation, 1 hour without screens, and 0 snooze button in the morning. This applies to the hours before bedtime.
