How do I know how many hours of sleep is best for me?
21 Answers
Last Updated: 01/24/2022 at 4:20pm
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Jessica McDaniel, LPC, LCPC
Licensed Professional Counselor
I have been practicing cognitive behavioral psychotherapy since 2007 with a diverse group of adult clients with various diagnoses, all races, and socioeconomic classes.
Top Rated Answers
Sleep is always a struggle to know how much you need or how to sleep better. People always talking about drinking more water, going on a diet, getting 'the right amount.' But how much is the right amount? Well, it really depends on you! Remember that its not the same for everyone. The range can be vary from 6-10 hours a night! A good place to start would be at 8 hours, and if you're too tired still try to raise it a bit, and if you cant seem to stay asleep for that long then go ahead and lessen the time. Its always up to you (:
Anonymous
January 24th, 2022 4:20pm
I think it does not matter how many hours you sleep but what is important is the quality of your sleep like how you feel after this sleep for example energetic or tired. For example, some days I do not sleep a lot but I wake up so energetic and somedays I sleep a lot but I still feel tired. So what matters is the quality of sleep. Try not to care about the number of hours a lot and just try to have a nice sleep in a comfortable place.
This is usually best answered knowing your age. The adequate hours of sleep for someone have to be in line with their age and their development stage. If you are between 6 and 13 years, you should get between 9 and 11 hours of sleep. If you are between 13 and 17 years, yo should sleep between 8 and 10 hours. At age between 18 and 25, 7 to 9 hours of sleep. And adults between 26-64 years, should get 7 to 9 too. In any case, this is a general recomendation and if you need to sleep more hours to feel rested, its fine. But you should always al least sleep 7 hours.
Its usually 6-8 hrs of sleep for teenagers and minimum of 6 hrs of sleep is required but it may vary person to person. You should observe your natural sleeping habit or amount of sleep after which you feel well rested. If you feel miserable after 5 hrs of sleep thrn take a nap of 1hr and then sleep. Also its the quality sleep that matters.
Anonymous
April 30th, 2018 11:40pm
Probably depends on your age range. A search will give you some quick results:
Age 6-13: 9-11 hours
Age 14-17: 8-10 hours
Age 18-25: 7-9 hours
Generally the surest sign to know that you didn't sleep enough is if you get tired during the day, or just fall into bed at night. So you could just try different amounts of sleep and see how you feel. Or if you have a free week, try going to bed when you feel tired and sleep until you wake up on your own. Do that for the whole week and note how long you slept. Then you should see how many hours of sleep your body needs.
Anonymous
May 30th, 2016 9:14pm
An adult needs to sleep 8 hours every night. Some need more, some need less. But definitely not less than 6. You need to try different sleep patterns and try to hold them up for at least a week and see how they make you feel
It's not just about how many hours but also about the quality of your sleep. Try an do a "sleep test run" where every night you sleep a different amount of time using an alarm clock. Once you find the amount of time which seems right, try to sleep that long again and if it keeps working then that's how many hours you need.
Usually at least 8 are sufficient. Sleeping freely for a few nights can give you a base about how long it takes.
It depends hardly on you since everybody is different! But one method is to have a week (its best to do it on your days off) without caffeine or anything else that keeps you awake. You go to sleep whenever you are tired, for at least 5, better 7 days. Write down when you go to sleep and when you wake up, and then calculate your sleeping hours.Boom, this is your optimal sleep lenght. :)
Anonymous
June 10th, 2015 2:20pm
It's different for everyone. The average for adults is seven to nine. It all depends on how much you're doing that day. If I know I have a long day ahead of me, I tend to sleep earlier and get more hours.
First of all, try to sleep within the average amount that is advised which is 8 hours. Then next day you can try 9 hours and if that makes you feel better increase to fit you, if it does not seem fit try 7 hours and so on.
Most adults need 7-8. I'd start with 7.5 for a week and then try a little more and then less and see th me difference. Unless you're very sleep deprived; then you might need 8 or 9 for a few days!
Anonymous
December 29th, 2014 9:10pm
Your body will tell you that. when you sleep as long as you like and wake up rested, that's when it's enough.
In the most general sense, adults require 6-8 hours of sleep. Creating a consistent sleep routine that works around this and deciding how effective it is after several weeks should be your first step.
You can do your research online to see a good starting point and try those out. Adjust it slightly until you go to sleep easy and wake up easy with a good amount of hours in between.
6-8 is the most common answer for some people. Adolescents tend to need a little more sleep on average while older adults tend to sleep less and need less sleep.
Whatever amount of sleep makes to feel active and refreshed the next day! Remember that getting too much sleep is not good for you, as is getting now enough. 7-9 hours is ideal for most people, but everyone is different.
Experiment with different levels of sleep and see what feels best for you. Keep a journal on the experience and reflect back on it in order to make your decision.
There's no good answer to this question. Research is all over the map on this issue. If you can use an app like SleepCycle or some other kind of sleep monitoring program, you can get a good idea of how well you're sleeping. Most medical and nursing texts recommend at least 7 hours of sleep per night, but usually not more than 10.
Anonymous
November 4th, 2014 1:04am
Listening to your body and don't be afraid to do your research or your own to find out what your body reacts to the best:)
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