How Much Sleep Do We Need?
Sleep is essential for our health and wellbeing, but how much sleep do we need? Health professionals and news reports are always advising us to get 8 hours sleep a night.
Without a good night’s sleep you wouldn’t function very well in your daily life. You would experience tiredness and even memory loss, as well as irritability.
The answer to the question how much sleep do we need depends on your age, lifestyle, and health.
Children need on average about 10 hours a night as they are still developing and growing, and teenagers about 9 hours sleep a night. Pregnant women generally need more sleep especially in the first few months.
In general a healthy adult needs between 7 to 8 hours sleep a night, and a lack of sleep usually causes daytime drowsiness and a desire to nap in the afternoon.
Regular good-quality sleep is needed for restorative process in the body that helps renew and protect vital bodily functions. A lack of sleep often shows in the skin making you look tired and drawn.
Most people can get by on a few hours sleep, or even a missed night’s sleep on occasions. However regular bad sleep habits can cause health problems including a decline in mental capabilities. Without sufficient sleep it becomes difficult to think and communicate clearly. Reaction times become slower and this can make driving dangerous.
People suffering from illnesses need more sleep to help the body recuperate and repair itself, and having a few early nights if you are suffering from a cold can help a faster recovery time.
There are some people who really do seem to function ok on less sleep, and it’s believed that most of these people tend to have a more extrovert personality. Creative and introverted types could find themselves mentally drained without sufficient sleep. Elderly people often sleep much less and this could be due to a decline in activity.
So how much sleep do we need depends on many different factors, but on average as long as you get 7 or 8 hours sleep you should be fine. The occasional late night won’t harm you as long as it doesn’t become a regular habit.
