Recommendations
Healthy adults need at least seven hours of sleep per night. Babies, young children, and teens need even more sleep to enable their growth and development.
Knowing the general recommendations for how much sleep you need is a first step. Next, it is important to reflect on your individual needs based on factors like your activity level and overall health. And finally, of course, it is necessary to apply healthy sleep tips so that you can actually get the full night’s sleep that is recommended.
Recommended Sleep Times By Age Group
| Age group | Age range | Recommended hours of sleep |
|---|---|---|
| Infant | 4-12 months | 12-16 hours (including naps) |
| Toddler | 1-2 years | 11-14 hours (including naps) |
| Preschool | 3-5 years | 10-13 hours (including naps) |
| School-age | 6-12 years | 9-12 hours |
| Teen | 13-18 years | 8-10 hours |
| Adult | 18 years and older | 7 hours or more |
Different age groups need different amounts of sleep. In each group, the guidelines present a recommended range Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source of nightly sleep duration for healthy individuals. In some cases, sleeping an hour more or less than the general range may be acceptable based on a person’s circumstances.
Sleep recommendations for newborns are not available because sleep needs in this age group vary widely Trusted Source UpToDate More than 2 million healthcare providers around the world choose UpToDate to help make appropriate care decisions and drive better health outcomes. UpToDate delivers evidence-based clinical decision support that is clear, actionable, and rich with real-world insights. View Source and can range from as few as 11 hours to as many as 19 hours per 24-hour period.
How Much Sleep is Really Necessary?
These guidelines serve as a rule-of-thumb for how much sleep babies, children, and adults need Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source while acknowledging that the ideal amount of sleep can vary from person to person. Some people need more or less sleep each night than those reflected in the ranges.
Source: Sleep Foundation