These Are The Recommended Sleep Times According To The National Sleep Foundation

We all know how important rest is for our overall health and development. Therefore, experts offer certain recommendations when it comes to our sleeping habits, especially the duration of our sleep.

The National Sleep Foundation actually recommended the sleeping time according to our age, and the number of hours we should sleep in order to have enough energy during the day. Also, this will help with our optimal health and mental clarity.

One of the main reasons for these types of problems can be stress and modern technology in this day and age. What stress actually does is stimulate the production of cortisol, which is also known as the ‘stress hormone.’ If it is in high levels, this hormone can cause restlessness in sleeping, sickness and also discomfort. Furthermore, the light of all the modern technology can impede the ability of our brains to release melatonin, because our body produces hormones in the dark.

All of these difficulties may lead to physical tiredness, difficulties to think clearly, to make decisions, and concentrate. This will eventually lead to appetite loss. Sleep problems are actually connected directly to a lot of health issues.

This is why you have to always make sure that you sleep enough hours in order to prevent some health issues. Thus, sleeping less than 5 hours can affect heart health, and less than 7, can lead to weight gain, obesity and diabetes.

Therefore, we will present you the recommended sleep times for each age.

The Guidelines for Sleeping According to Age

A team of experts, guided by professor Charles Czeisler at Harvard University conducted a research. They included many studies from 2004 to 2014. They did all of this to find out the needed sleep hours and the effects sleep has on our health.

These are the conclusions they came to make:

• Newborn (0 to 3 months): 14 to 17 hours of sleep.
• Babies (4 to 11 months): 12 to 15 hours.
• Children (1-2 years): 11 to 14 hours.
• Preschool (3-5 years): 10 to 13 hours.
• School Age (6-13 years): 9 to 11 hours.
• Teens (14-17 years): 8 to 10 hours.
• Youth (18-25 years): 7 to 9 hours.
• Adults (26-64 years): 7 to 9 hours.
• Senior (over 65 years): 7 to 8 hours.

These are the optimal times for sleeping. Nevertheless, note that each individual needs different hours of rest, therefore, see these guidelines as approximate. However, one thing is for sure, you must not lack sleep, because it can be a serious risk for our health.