How Many Hours Is Considered Enough Sleep?
Sleep needs vary from person to person--and vary across a person's lifetime, says Michael Timothy Smith, MA, PhD, director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at Johns Hopkins University, in this HealthMakers video.
Transcript
Everyone wants a number. And the-- the reality is everybody has their own sort of set point for what they
need to have optimal function. You know, average speaking, 7 and 1/2 hours for an adult in society is-- is pretty typical.
But you know, many people need 8 and 1/2 hours, 9 hours. Adolescents, for example, often require 10, 10 and 1/2 hours
of sleep. And I know very few adolescents who actually get anywhere near that. So it really depends, you know, on your age.
As you get older, people tend to get a little bit less sleep. But those could be for reasons related to medical comorbidities and those kinds of problems.
As you get older, your sleep system becomes less efficient, basically. And so you're not able to sort of lay down a nice chunk of sleep like you used
to when you were in your middle-- middle ages, for example. And-- but you still need roughly the same amount.
sleep disorders
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