From a young age, adults tell us and when we are adults we are the ones who tell the little ones: you have to sleep at least 8 hours to be able to rest well. But why 8 hours? Is it true that our brain rests better by sleeping that long? In today’s post we are going to try to see the truth about all this : how much sleep should each of us?
The first thing to know is that the 8-hour is not applicable to everyone. An adult does not need the same sleep as a child, so the hours of sleep needed basically depend on age.
While it is true that it is not our body that needs to “recharge our batteries”, it is our brain that needs rest to be able to respond correctly to motor activities.
But the most important thing is not how much sleep we get but how we sleep. It is important that the quality of our sleep is good, sleep on a good mattress and above all sleep continuously, without waking up in the middle of the night.
HOW MUCH SLEEP BY AGE
Babies up to one year of age can sleep up to 18 hours a day. This is because the biological clock of newborns is not yet developed and during the first six months of life they may even sleep more during the day than at night. In addition, babies wake up very easily because they spend more time in the REM (rapid eye movement) phase than in the NREM (deep sleep) phase.
Children between 1 and 2 years old need many hours of sleep since it is one of the most active stages they go through in their childhood. Pediatricians recommend about 13 hours of sleep a day, either throughout the night or saving about 2 hours for naps.
School-age children, between 3 and 12 years old, should be well rested for their school hours, which are not only reduced to those in the morning, most of them also have extracurricular classes. Sleeping at least 10 hours is necessary, although as they grow they need fewer hours to recover.
Teenagers, the most problematic to go to sleep. Most of them prefer to stay up late watching TV or in front of their smartphone, but it is important that they sleep at least 9 hours each night. In addition, more sleep-related hormones are produced during puberty, so even if you don’t want to sleep, you will feel more tired and fall ill if you do not get enough rest.
Adults can afford to sleep less than children, about 7 or 8 hours a day is the right thing for an adult to be awake all day and endure daily chores.
People over 60 years of age are having less deep sleep, so it is normal for them to sleep less at night but during the day rest a little more than an adult.
Each person must respect those hours of sleep to be healthy and happy and to be able to enjoy the day 100%!
