Sleep Requirements According To Age Groups

Sleep patterns change in the course of life, so it is helpful to know scientifically based recommendations for the necessary sleep times at any age. You can take care of it in order to maintain your health.

The  need for sleep  changes over the course of life. Therefore, the recommended sleep times depend on age, because organic needs and lifestyle vary over time.

Getting enough sleep is essential for a healthy life. Because lack of sleep or poor quality of sleep have a wide variety of consequences, some of them serious. But sleeping too much is by no means recommended.

The need for sleep depends on various factors. Age is just one of them. In addition, these are only general recommendations, which can also vary individually depending on the situation and requirements for each person.

Meeting the necessary sleep needs is fundamental to health 

Recommended sleep needs is not an exact science. In truth, it is very difficult to make categorical and precise recommendations on how long to sleep. Some young people only sleep for five hours and are rested afterwards, but others need at least nine hours to feel comfortable and rested the next day.

Various signs can tell us  whether we are actually getting enough sleep or not. In general, lack of sleep makes you feel tired and irritable during the day. Even if you fall asleep again just a few minutes after waking up, this is a clear sign that your nocturnal rest was too short or too little restful.

A very reliable test is to sleep without restrictions for 15 days. Of course, this is usually only possible on vacation. If you do not notice any sleep disorders after this time and you have achieved regular sleep times, then you can enjoy a good quality of sleep.

Sleep needs and recommended sleep times depending on age

As mentioned earlier, age plays a fundamental role in determining the correct sleep times. The  National Sleep Foundation (NSF) has published a list of minimum and maximum sleep times based on age. This is based on new scientific research. According to this list, the following sleeping times are recommended for the various age groups:

• Newborns (0 to 3 months): between 14 and 17 hours a day
• Babies (4 to 11 months): between 12 and 15 hours a day

• Infants (1 to 2 years old): between 11 and 14 hours a day
• Pre-school children (3 to 5 years old): between 10 and 13 hours a day
• Schoolchildren (6 to 13 years old): between 9 and 11 hours a day
• Teenagers (14 to 17 years old):  between 8 and 10 hours a day
• Young adults (18 to 25 years old): between 7 and 9 hours a day
• Middle age (26 to 64 years):  between 7 and 9 hours a day
• Seniors (65 or older):  between 7 and 8 hours a day

Why does age influence the need for sleep?

Babies need longer sleep times than adults because sleep is fundamental to their physical and psychological development. During sleep, the body produces more growth hormone. This is an extremely important process in allowing the organs to develop and the nervous system to mature.

Babies and children continuously go through important learning processes. Only if they get enough sleep can the information gathered during the day be properly processed, organized and consolidated. The older they are, the less sleep they need.

During adolescence, the circadian rhythm is re-“synchronized”. The biological clock adapts itself and means that adolescents usually only feel the need to go to bed later, but find it difficult to get up in the morning. As we age, we need less sleep.

The hypothesis: grandparents sleep badly

A study published in the journal  Proceedings of the Royal Society suggests  that one cause of altered sleep patterns with age could be evolutionary adaptation. This is also known as the “poorly  sleeping grandparent hypothesis ”.

This hypothesis assumes that  one of the factors that allowed our ancestors to survive was the fact that they stayed awake during the night. As older people performed fewer activities during the day and the night watch was less strenuous for them, they took on this task.

In contemporary primitive communities it has been observed that older people go to sleep earlier, but wake up again in the early hours of the morning. This behavior could be a legacy of our ancestors. Because it complements the explanation why sleep times change with age.