Age-wise sleep time

Do you know how important sleep is?

Are you sleeping more than you need or less than you need?

Do you know how much sleep you require?

 

Importance of sleep:

When you think of having good health it includes a healthy diet, exercise, having enough amount of water, and sleep. But do you know sleep plays an important role in maintaining good physical health and mental health? Sleep is a very important activity for human health. Lack of sleep can cause several problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, depression, anxiety, poor immune system, and so on. So every person should get a proper amount of sleep at the proper time.

How much sleep is recommended in each age group?

How many hours of sleep do we need is a question which has various answers for the various age group. Different age needs a different amount of sleep.

The National Sleep Foundation published a study that shows which amount of sleep is recommended for Which age group.

Age group	Age Range	Recommended hours of sleep
Newborn	0-3 months	14-17 hours
Infant	4-11 months	12-15 hours
Toddler	1-2 year	11-14 hours
Preschool	P3-5 years	10-13 hours
School-a	6-13 years	9-11 hours
Teen	14-17 years	8-10 hours
Young adult	18-25 years	7-9 hours
Adult	26-64 years	7-9 hours
Older adult	65 or more year	7-8 hours

This recommendation of sleep hours for the different age groups is suggested by 18 sleep researchers in Sleep Health. In some cases, an hour more or less can be acceptable depending on the person’s situation.

What happens in different age groups?

Newborns and Infants:

Newborns don’t have their circadian rhythm developed before 2-3 months old. So infants tend to sleep throughout the day any time they feel like it. By around 12 months they start to sleep at night properly.

School-age children:

School-aged children tend to speed up when they are tired. So they are likely to resist going to bed. However, students’ grades and attendance are indicators of whether they have any sleep-related issues or not. Children with ADHD can cause sleep disruption.

Teens:

Circadian rhythm changes after puberty. Teens are likely to go to bed after 11 at night and wake up late in the morning. One study has shown that only 15% of teens reported sleeping for 8 hours.

A problem with teens is the use of back-lit devices at night can throw off their sleep. Lack of sleep in a teenager can cause many problems like-

• Poor impulse control.

• Lack of emotional control.

• Drowsiness leads to accidents.

• Difficulty in focusing, poor performance, lack of creativity, poor grades.

• Skin issues.

Adults:

There are lots of reasons for adults not getting proper sleep.

i. Stress for job and work.

ii. Consuming caffeine products.

iii. Using electronic devices. The blue emitting light from electronic devices is very harmful.

iv. Lack of exercise.

v. Irregular sleep schedule.

Depression rates are very high at this age. The age group from 18-25 is more likely to have insomnia and other sleep problems. Age from 36-55 that means at middle age people are prone to have anxiety which causes sleep deprivation in them. Anxiety can cause a scarcity of sleep.

Seniors:

Many medical complications lead to a lack of sleep in older people. They suffer from various problems and take medication and for that, they don’t get proper sleep. Change in sleep phases can be a cause for it. Sleep fragmentation is very common in old age. Day napping is also very common in old people. As they don’t get proper sleep at night, they tend to take naps in daytime very frequently.

Women:

Studies say that women need an average of 20 minutes more per night. A reason behind that can be the monthly hormone cycle that occurs with menstruation. Also, studies say that women are multitasked and have a busier schedule than men.

Sleep during pregnancy:

Pregnant women need more sleep. In the first trimester, more daytime sleepiness occurs. This is due to an increase in progesterone. They are likely to have restless leg syndrome, snoring, and insomnia. After the baby is born they are more likely to fall asleep as they suffer from sleep deprivation. Babies are often wake up and cry and for taking their care mothers cannot sleep properly. Breastfeeding is sleep-inducing as that stimulates lactation, prolactin which is sleep-promoting.

Make a sleep priority:

So it is important to get a proper amount of sleep so start prioritizes your sleep and make a sleep schedule. Improve your sleep hygiene to get a better result. Some sleep hygiene which improves sleep are-

Maintaining your sleep schedule.

Practicing a pre-bed routine.

Optimizing bedroom temperature and aroma.

Avoiding electronic devices.

Avoid having caffeine.  Avoid smoking and alcohol consumption.

You can have a sleep diary and note down every detail of your sleep. If anything goes wrong contact a doctor. Try to get the recommended amount of sleep at any cost. Sleep well to keep your health well.