Thursday, November 3, 2016

How Much Sleep Do We Really Need?




Sleep is like nutrition: it has a required daily allowance (RDA). Like nutritional deficiency, sleep deficiency is not good for our health.

The RDA of sleep is genetically determined and is therefore inherent to the species and to other factors such as age and general state of health.
1. A healthy middle aged adult needs 7 to 8 hours per day.
2. A healthy elderly adult: slightly less.
3. A healthy child and teen: more.
4. A healthy infant: even more.
5. A healthy kitty: a lot more.
6. A person with a flu, an infection, or another illness: a lot lot more.

Variations:
The U.S. National Sleep Foundation says you need this much: 
> 0 to 3 months of age: 14 to 17 hours
> 4 to 11 months of age: 12 to 15 hours
> 1 to 2 years of age: 11 to 14 hours
> 3 to 5 years of age: 10 to 13 hours
> 6 to 13 years of age: 9 to 11 hours
> 14 to 17 years of age: 8 to 10 hours
> 18 to 25 years of age: 7 to 9 hours
> 26 to 64 years of age: 7 to 9 hours
> 65 and older: 7 to 8 hours

Condensed from:  
http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/10/28/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need/#245cdccb59fc

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