The question we often ask ourselves more than any other is: what is the ideal number of hours of sleep? The National Sleep Foundation is committed to “updating” and regularly reviewing the guidelines on how many hours of sleep are appropriate for each of us, but specifying that any recommendation must keep in mind individual differences.
But how many hours do we have to sleep each night? Let’s find out the latest recommendations from the National Sleep Foundation.
Here is the ideal amount of sleeping hours for each of us
The guidelines on the amount of hours recommended for each individual is first of all based on the age group:
| AGE | IDEAL NUMBER OF SLEEPING HOURS |
| Babies from 0 to 3 months old | 14/17 hours |
| From 4 to 11 months old | 10/11 hours |
| 3/5 years old | 8/13 hours |
| 6/13 years old | 7/12 hours |
| 14/17 years old | 7/11 hours |
| 18/25 years old | 7/9 hours |
| 26/64 years old | 7/8 hours |
| 65 years old and over | 6/8 hours |
Starting from these guidelines, you should never increase or decrease of over 1 hour with regard to the maximum and minimum hours of sleep recommended.
The ideal number of sleeping hours during adulthood are 7/8 per night
From the data provided by the National Sleep Foundation, it is clear how the ideal number of sleeping hours are more variable during the growth phase while during the whole adult age, from 18 to 65, they stabilize in a much more defined and narrow range: 7/8 hours per night.
This means that it’s highly discouraged to sleep less than 6 hours or more than 9 hours a night.
Not only quantity, but also quality!
As we have frequently pointed out, it’s not only important to sleep a certain amount of hours per night, but also to do it in the right way!
To get the most from your resting hours, remember to:
- Respect the same hours as much as possible both when you go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning.
- Relax and get ready for your rest an hour before bed time.
- Carefully choose the bed system that best suits your needs.
- Listen to your body to understand if you are resting properly: in the morning you should wake up feeling rested and full of energy!
