Sleep is a very important factor for our health and well-being, but nowadays people care less about sleep and the average adult sleeps less than seven hours per night. Most of the people pass their days running so sleep can be overrated, but can we be more productive and have more energy if we sleep more? Definitely yes!
Causes of sleep deprivation
There are some studies about the exact amount of sleep that the Human being needs. You can be perfectly functional with a few hours of sleep, however you can be much more productive and you can feel a lot better during the day. If you don’t sleep enough hours many days in a row you can have more serious effects on your health. Sleep deprivation can cause:
- Weakened immune system;
- Weight gain;
- Frequent colds and infections;
- Premature skin aging;
- Irritability; increased risk of depression;
- Concentration and memory problems;
- Decreased sex drive;
- Reduced creativity;
- Fatigu and lack of motivation;
- Increased risk of serious health problems including stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and certain cancers.
How many hours of sleep do we need?
Your age and health influence the number of hours you need to sleep. Most Healthy adults need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. Children and teenagers need more hours.
- Newborns (0-3 months): Sleep range narrowed to 14-17 hours each day (previously it was 12-18)
- Infants (4-11 months): Sleep range widened two hours to 12-15 hours (previously it was 14-15)
- Toddlers (1-2 years): Sleep range widened by one hour to 11-14 hours (previously it was 12-14)
- Preschoolers (3-5): Sleep range widened by one hour to 10-13 hours (previously it was 11-13)
- School age children (6-13): Sleep range widened by one hour to 9-11 hours (previously it was 10-11)
- Teenagers (14-17): Sleep range widened by one hour to 8-10 hours (previously it was 8.5-9.5)
- Younger adults (18-25): Sleep range is 7-9 hours (new age category)
- Adults (26-64): Sleep range did not change and remains 7-9 hours
Older adults (65+): Sleep range is 7-8 hours (new age category)
Source: National Sleep Foundation
The amount of sleep, it’s not the only thing that matters to improve your health and be more productive. Your sleep quality can be the main factor.
If you sleep 8 hours at night but don’t have the enough hours of deep sleep you may wake up tired.
During the night you have three stages of sleep with different benefits.
The deep sleep is a very important stage. In healthy adults the perfect amount of deep sleep is 13 to 23%, so in an 8 hours sleep you may have 62 to 110 minutes of deep sleep.
As you can see the quality of your sleep is very important for your health and can affect a lot your days. So if you want to improve the quality of your sleep, read our article about Habits for better sleep.