How Much Sleep Do You Need?
The amount of sleep each person needs depends on many factors, including age.
Infants generally require about 16 hours a day, while teenagers need about 9 hours on average.
For most adults, 7 to 8 hours a night appears about right, although some people may need as few as 5 hours or as many as 10 hours of sleep each day.
Women in the first 3 months of pregnancy often need several more hours of sleep than usual.
The amount of sleep you need also increases if you suffer sleep deprivation in previous days. Getting too little sleep creates a "sleep debt", which is much like being overdrawn at a bank. Eventually, your body will demand that the debt be repaid.
You don't seem to adapt to getting less sleep than you need and; while you may get used to a sleep-depriving schedule, your judgment, reaction time, and other functions are all impaired.
You tend to sleep more lightly and for shorter time spans as you get older, although you generally need about the same amount of sleep as you needed in early adulthood.
About half of all people over 65 have frequent sleeping problems, such as insomnia, and deep sleep stages in many elderly people often become very short or stop completely. This change may be a normal part of aging, or it may result from medical problems that are common in elderly people and from the medications and other treatments for those problems.
Experts say that if you feel drowsy during the day, even during boring activities, you haven't had enough sleep. If you routinely fall asleep within 5 minutes of lying down, you probably have severe sleep deprivation, possibly even a sleep disorder.
Microsleeps, or very brief episodes of sleep in an otherwise awake person, also indicate the possibility of sleep deprivation. In many cases, you are not aware that you are experiencing microsleeps. The widespread practice of "burning the candle at both ends" in western industrialized societies has created so much sleep deprivation that what is really abnormal sleepiness is now almost the norm.
Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous.
Sleep-deprived people tested using a driving simulator, or performing a hand eye coordination task, perform as badly as or worse than those suffering from intoxication.
Sleep deprivation also magnifies alcohol's effects on the body, so a fatigued person who drinks will become much more impaired than someone who is well-rested.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, driver fatigue results in an estimated 100,000 motor vehicle accidents and 1,500 deaths in the United States each year. Since drowsiness constitutes the brain's last step before falling asleep, driving while drowsy can - and often does - lead to disaster.
Caffeine and other stimulants cannot overcome the effects of severe sleep deprivation.
The National Sleep Foundation says that if you have trouble keeping your eyes focused, if you can't stop yawning, or if you can't remember driving the last few miles, you are probably too drowsy to drive safely.
Next >>> General observations about sleep
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The information contained here should NOT be used as a substitute for the advice of an appropriately qualified and licensed physician or other health care provider. The information provided here is for educational and informational purposes only and in no way should be considered as an offering of medical advice.
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