Know the ideal sleeping hours your body needs

Sleep is that peace in life that nothing else can beat. After a tiring day when you finally take your pillow and lay down that gives a different level of satisfaction. However, this might not be the case for everyone. Some give games or scrolling their mobile phones much more important than sleep. Thus some choose to sleep only for 4-5 hours a day. But do you know what is the ideal sleeping hours according to your age? Worry not we will know that in this article.

The importance of sleep

Before everything let us first know the importance of sleep in life. Do you know that the quality of your sleep at night directly affects your mental and physical health and how well you feel during the day? Well, Sleep affects your productivity, emotional balance, brain and heart health, immune function, creativity, vitality, and even weight.

Thus, Sleep is not just a time when your body shuts off. While you rest, your brain stays busy, supervising biological maintenance that keeps your body running in top condition, preparing you for the day ahead. Thus your body requires enough hours of restorative sleep to work, learn, create, and communicate at a level even close to your true potential.

Average Sleep Need according to Age

According to National Sleep Foundation, Age Hours Needed May be appropriate
Newborn to 3 months old 14 – 17 hrs 11 – 19 hrs
4 to 11 months old 12 – 15 hrs 10 – 18 hrs
1 to 2 years old 11 – 14 hrs 9 – 16 hrs
3 to 5 years old 10 – 13 hrs 8 – 14 hrs
6 to 13 years old 9 – 11 hrs 7 – 12 hrs
14 to 17 years old 8 – 10 hrs 7 – 11 hrs
Young adults (18 to 25 years old) 7 – 9 hrs 6 – 11 hrs
Adults (26 to 64 years old) 7 – 9 hrs 6 – 10 hrs
Older adults (65+) 7 – 8 hrs 5 – 9 hrs

Well, the best way to figure out if one is meeting their sleep needs is to assess how one feels as he or she goes about the day. If you’re logging enough sleep hours, you’ll feel enthusiastic.

Again, Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found that some people have a gene that facilitates them to function well on six hours of sleep a night. This gene, however, is very rare, appearing in less than 3% of the population. For the other 97% of us, six hours doesn’t come close to cutting it.

What are a few Myths and Facts about Sleep?

Myth: Getting just one hour less sleep per night will not affect your daytime functioning.

Fact: The reality is losing even one hour of sleep can affect your ability to think properly and respond quickly.

Myth: Your body adapts shortly to different sleep schedules.

Fact: Although people can reset their biological clock, only by properly timed cues—and even then, by one or two hours per day at best. Meanwhile, it can take more than a week to adjust after wandering across several time zones.

Myth: Extra sleep at night can cure you of problems with unnecessary daytime exhaustion.

Fact: The truth is that quantity is the quality of sleep that one has to pay attention to. Some people sleep eight or nine hours a night but don’t feel well-rested when they wake up because the quality of their sleep is poor.

Summing up on average an adult should sleep at least 7 hours a day to let his brain process well. This is the healthy hour that your body needs to get itself processed.