When it Comes to Sleep, 8 Hours a Night is Not a One-Size-Fits-All Solution

The days are getting longer, and I find myself finding it a bit easier each morning to hop out of bed and get going. Also...there's that 11 month old who has recently decided that she wants a bottle at
4 AM instead of her normal 5:30 wake up. That helps to get me going as well as the sunrise and the birds chirping!

We all probably know that we could use more sleep, but how much is actually enough?

This is a question that has been addressed in the past with general, sometimes overly-broad guidelines that suggested that adults need 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night, teens need 9 to 10 hours per night, and young children need at least 10 hours per night.

But these guidelines have been revised in favor of more specific recommendations for specific age ranges. The new recommendations come from the non-profit National Sleep Foundation (NSF) in a report published in the journal Sleep Health. This report is based on a comprehensive review and analysis of over 300 published studies on sleep and health. This is the first time that any professional organization has developed age-specific recommended sleep durations based on a rigorous, systematic review of the world scientific literature relating sleep duration to health, performance, and safety.

The updated guidelines break up the previous categories for both children and adults into more precise age ranges. An overview of the "Recommended" range is provided below:

Newborns (0-3 mo): Range was narrowed to 14-17 hours (previously 12-18)

Infants (4-11 mo): Range widened to 12-15 hours (previously 14-15)

Toddlers (1-2 yr): Range widened to 11-14 hours (previously 12-14)

Preschoolers (3-5 yr): Range widened to 10-13 hours (previously 11-13)

School Age (6-13 yr): Range widened to 9-11 hours (previously 10-11)

Teenagers (14-17): Range widened to 8-10 hours (previously 8.5-9.5)

Younger adults (18-25): Range is 7-9 hours (new age category)

Adults (26-64): Range did not change and remains 7-9 hours

Older adults (65+): Range is 7-8 hours (new age category)

Now, I realize that it's virtually impossible to get the recommended amounts of sleep on a daily basis, whether you're a child or a parent, but pay attention to your body. You can't "store sleep" by sleeping a lot before a stressful, sleep-deprived future event. It is possible, however, to "catch up" on sleep afterwards. Listen to your body and know if you need an extra hour of sleep. Just don't forget your amazing ability to rationalize what you want, and not necessarily what you need. I, for example, always have a better day overall if I get my tired (and, ahem, occasionally lazy) body out of bed and exercise before work in the morning...no matter how wonderful that pillow and those blankets feel!