Key Points

• Most good-health adults require a minimum of seven hours of sleep each night.
• It is recommended that infants, young children, and adolescents have more sleep to assist their growth and development.
• Obtaining adequate sleep each night is a priority to maintain happiness, health, and mental acuity.

Sleep is a crucial part of everyone's well-being. Being exposed to gadgets and screens everywhere, it is evident that people should follow a proper sleep cycle. But how much sleep is required by an average person to stay healthy? Let's explore How much sleep you actually require.

Most adults in good health require a minimum of seven hours of sleep each night. Infants, young children, and adolescents need even more sleep than adults to facilitate their growth and development.

Therefore, it is essential to identify a few things before you want to achieve your sleep goals for a healthy life.

• The first step is to understand that sleep needs vary since people in different age groups require different amounts of sleep. So, it is essential to become familiar with the general recommendations for the necessary amount of sleep.
• Next, it is essential to consider your requirements, which will be unique to you. These are determined by factors such as the level of physical activity you are involved in every day and your general state of health.
• Lastly, following healthy sleep guidelines and recommendations that suit you is essential and can help you achieve your desired sleep goals.

Suggested hours of sleep required, according to the age group -

The age range and duration of sleep that is recommended for most individuals are as follows;

• 3 to 12 months old infants - 12 to 16 hours, including naps taken in between.
• For 1 to 2 years old toddlers, the optimal sleep range is between 11 and 15 hours, including occasional naps.
• For those between the ages of 3 to 5 years, at least 10 to 14 hours of sleep is advised.
• Children 6 to 12 years old require 9 to 12 hours of sleep.
• School going teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 - 8 to 10 hours of sleep.
• An adult who is at least 18 years old or more - 7 hours or longer.

It is worth noting that the amount of sleep that individuals require, based on their age, varies. Therefore, recommendations provide an appropriate range for each of the classifications.

In certain situations, when a person's needs are different, it may be permissible to sleep an hour longer or shorter than the average range, depending upon the person's age and physical and mental well-being.

Also, since the recommendations for sleep in this age group are so diverse, no specific sleep recommendations are available for babies. However, sleep hours for babies can usually spread throughout the day, typically consisting of a minimum of 11 to 19 hours of sleep, including naps.

What is the Optimal Amount of Sleep That We Really Need?

Numerous studies have been done on sleep cycles and their effect on the human body.

Recently, studies on genomics have indicated a direct correlation between the quality of sleep and the health of an individual.

By studying biological information, sleep patterns and their effect on the health of individuals, among other things, can be ascertained, which is one of the most accurate ways of determining health and has been possible due to the advancement of science.

While the optimal amount of sleep can vary from person to person, specific individuals have a higher or lower sleep requirement each night than indicated in the ranges.

When determining the amount of sleep you require, you must consider your general health, the activities you engage in daily, and your regular sleeping habits.

The amount of sleep a person requires can be estimated using various parameters. You can determine the ideal amount of sleep for you by going through your responses to some of these questions.

Questions to consider-

• Can you maintain your productivity and health with seven hours of sleep?
  This is one of the questions that might assist you in determining your particular sleep requirements. Alternatively, you must find out if you need more sleep to be cheerful.
• Are you experiencing any concurrent health conditions that may necessitate additional rest?
  It is another question that can help you decide your sleeping hours. People suffering from hypertension, diabetes, or any other comorbid conditions require more hours of sleep.
• Are you someone who expends a significant amount of energy daily?
  It is applicable to people who are engaged in labor-intensive professions or who are athletes. More energy spent requires more rest to replenish the energy.
• Do you need to be alert every day to carry out your tasks in a secure manner?
  People engaged in precision work, who need to concentrate, require adequate sleep.
• Do you tend to sleep later in the day when you have a more flexible schedule?
  Many people sleep during the day or take power naps. Although power naps are good, they boost your productivity temporarily and are not a substitute for proper sleeping hours.
• Does caffeine play a significant role in your ability to get through the day?
  Many people use caffeine in the form of tea or coffee throughout the day to stay active. However, excess caffeine can also affect your sleeping hours. Therefore, a balance between enjoying caffeine and sleeping well should be considered.
• Do you currently suffer from a sleep condition, or do you have a sleep issue in your past?
  Many people take medications for sleep. Although effective temporarily, pills are usually habit-forming and have adverse effects on your alertness, even when you are not sleeping. The priority should be to terminate the root cause(s) that keeps you awake. Also, sleeping and waking up at fixed hours can help.
• Do you drive daily?
  Surprisingly, people who drive a lot require more sleep. It has been proven time and again that a person's alertness on being deprived of sleep is as poor as a person under substance effects like alcohol. Dozing off behind the wheel is the number one cause of daily accidents. Therefore, if you are someone who drives every day, ensure that you get 7 hours or more sleep every day, depending upon your requirements.

Prioritise Sleep Over Everything

It is essential to begin planning how to make your nightly sleep goal a reality once you have determined the hours of sleep you require every night.

Making sleep at the top of your priority list is an excellent place to start. It can entail creating and implementing a schedule to help you secure the required hours of sleep and ensure that your professional and social activities do not conflict with your desire for sleep.

Although in the short term, you may devise your reasoning to cut short the amount of time you spend sleeping, this strategy will only be beneficial in the short run because sleep is necessary for you to function properly. Good sleep is paramount for mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

Quality of Sleep Matters More!

By now, you would clearly understand the importance of sleep and the minimum sleep hours required by a person based on the age group and profession he or she is in.

Another aspect of sleep that is often ignored, which is even more important than the hours you sleep, is the quality of sleep.

People often think that the quantity of sleep is essential, and it is in most cases; however, if you want to achieve the optimal level of productivity and personal well-being, it is not the only factor to consider while attempting to solve this problem.

The quality of your sleep is by far much more essential. Often, you will feel that even after sleeping for the required hours, your energy levels are still down, and you may feel heavy or sleepy at times. It is primarily because your sleep is either fragmented into many parts (hours) or your sleep cycle is not in sync with your body's natural circadian rhythm cycle.

Therefore, even after clocking the necessary hours, your sleep is not helping restore your body's hormones, your energy levels as well as neural pathways. Lack of quality sleep can thus have a direct impact on your mood, your immune system, and overall mental and physical health.

Thankfully, it can be fixed easily with a few changes and improvements. One of the most tried-and-tested methods for achieving quality sleep is to enhance the ambiance of your bedroom and the routines you follow.

The following are some of the ways by which you can help improve the quality of your sleep:

• Maintain personal hygiene, like washing your feet and face before sleeping. Changing into comfortable clothes before bedtime is ideal for a good night's sleep.
• Have a sip of water before going to bed, but not more, as it may break your sleep cycle when nature calls in the wee hours.
• Select a good mattress that is both supportive and comfortable for your body structure. A good mattress with equally good pillows and bedsheets is necessary for good sleep.
• Indulge into a relaxing bedtime routine to make it easier to fall asleep quickly. Reading a book or listening to soft music can help.
• Avoid disturbances caused by unnecessary sounds. Your room should be adequately dark and free from noise. Setting the temperature of your room to a comfortable level can also help.
• Refrain from gadgets and gizmos such as smartphones, TVs, and laptops before going to bed. Social media is very intimidating, and people often check other people's profiles or reply to messages at night. It would be best if you avoided such interactions for at least 30 minutes prior to bedtime. Your only interaction with your mobile should be setting the alarm before muting your phone.
• Avoid consumption of caffeine in the hours leading to bedtime. Caffeine stimulates your brain to be alert, which is not what you want to do before scheduling your sleep. An alert brain will never let you sleep fully, leaving you in a trance, which will heavily affect your sleep quality.
• Adhering to the same sleep schedule day after day, even on the weekends or other holidays - It is perhaps the most important factor determining sleep quality. Sleeping early at a fixed time can also help you get up early at a specified time. Align your sleep as per your body's natural circadian rhythm. It shall do wonders for your overall health.

The above suggestions can be immensely helpful in achieving quality sleep when practiced diligently and should be considered even if you assist others, like adolescents, kids, or older people, in obtaining the required sleep.

Teenagers, in particular, find it challenging to acquire the necessary amount of sleep due to various specific sleep issues. Being a parent, you can help deal with such sleep issues by following the above mentioned suggestions.

Maintaining a journal and recording your sleeping habits can also help you introspect the problems and their solution based on the above mentioned guidelines. Your sleeping habits and requirements can be better understood due to this.

If you have persistent issues with sleeping or have symptoms that are stopping you from sleeping well, such as recurring tiredness, cramps, sleep apnea, excessive snoring, etc., in that case, it may be beneficial to consult a doctor to help you with these problems because everyone devoured a good night sleep!