The Ideal Amount of Sleep for Every Age Group According to Experts
It seems that this is as old as time itself, the question: “How much sleep do I really need?” The nonprofit National Sleep Foundation and a group of 18 distinguished medical scientists and researchers reviewed over 300 sleep studies to try to finally answer this question.
The short answer is, of course, “depends on the circumstances.” There is no perfect amount of sleep that fits every person, but a large report from the National Sleep Foundation, recently published in their own Sleep Health Journal, provided an updated list of sleep duration guidelines for all age groups. Here are the guidelines:
- Newborns (0-3 months): 14-17 hours daily.
- Infants (4-11 months): 12-15 hours every day.
- Toddlers (1-2 years old): 11-14 hours every day.
- Preschoolers (3-5 years old): 10-13 hours every day.
- School-age children (6-13): 9-11 hours every day.
- Teenagers (14-17 years old): 8-10 hours every day.
- Youth (18-25): 7-9 hours every day.
- Adults (26-64): 7-9 hours every day.
- Seniors (65+): 7-8 hours every day.
For the largest age range, adults, the recommended sleep duration has remained unchanged, which makes sense given that seven hours of sleep can be a sweet spot for many in this range. However, two new categories have been added to the report – younger people and older people – and the report also recommends sleeping a little more across the board for younger people. Getting a good night’s sleep isn’t always as easy as it sounds, but it can be very important to your health , so make sure you get enough sleep. You can find out more about the report by following the link below.
Sleep Duration Recommendations from the National Sleep Foundation: Methodology and Results | Sleep Health Journal via Science Daily