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How many hours of sleep do I need in a night?

29 Answers
Last Updated: 01/07/2020 at 4:28pm
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Top Rated Answers
Profile: cashmeredreams
cashmeredreams
January 5th, 2015 5:06am
It varies from person to person. It is usually accepted that a person should get between 7-8 hours a night, but some people have been okay on just 3-4 hours. Others might need 11-14 hours to feel refreshed.
Profile: Arkelight
Arkelight
December 27th, 2014 10:01pm
You need between 7-9 hours of sleep per night depending on your age, circumstances, etc. Under sleeping and Oversleeping can have negative effects on your health.
Profile: ChibiGinger
ChibiGinger
May 24th, 2015 6:44pm
It depends on the Person. Most People are saying that you need 6 - 8 hours. I am only sleeping max. 4 hours at night and my doc says that it is all right as long as I am not tired in the day.
Profile: Mandymb12497
Mandymb12497
September 8th, 2015 5:26pm
About eight to nine hours of sleep every night is a healthy sleep. Most people get around eight hours
Profile: Fluffy3763
Fluffy3763
January 7th, 2020 4:28pm
Hi it depends every person have different need of sleep but most healthy adults need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best. Children and teens need even more. And despite the notion that our sleep needs decrease with age, most older people still need at least 7 hours of sleep, The best way to figure out if you’re meeting your sleep needs is to evaluate how you feel as you go about your day. If you’re logging enough sleep hours, you’ll feel energetic and alert all day long, from the moment you wake up until your regular bedtime.
Anonymous
September 24th, 2019 11:36pm
It clearly depends on your age and on what you do during your working day. I think that 7 or 8 hours are a good amount of time to be fine in the morning! Anyway, you should try it out yourself and see when you feel more rested and then try to keep on with that amount of time everyday. Also, to be better in the morning, you should try to go to sleep everyday at the same hour (not past midnight) and waking up early in the morning (let's say around 8 o'clock to keep the time amount on the 8 hours i said before).
Profile: thoughtfulApple41
thoughtfulApple41
March 13th, 2018 11:03am
This depends on age and individual. For the most generic and we 5 to 8 hours is good. If your a teen you need more because your brain is doing more neural clipping than at any other time. As you age you need less sleep. To much sleep can be just as detrimental as to little. For myself I find I function best with 3 to 4 hours and then an afternoon nap of about an hour
Profile: Daisy9600
Daisy9600
November 13th, 2017 10:23pm
8 Hours is usually best in most cases, its really positive to get a good nights rest. If you dont get enough sleep this can have an affect on your mood, motivation and well being.
Anonymous
May 16th, 2017 2:04am
It depends on how old you are, what you do during the day, and how early you need to wake up and the difficulty of the things you need to get done. I'd say, if possible, get 6-8 hours of sleep each night, if not more. If you can't do it one night, it's okay. You're going to be fine, I promise.
Profile: enjoyiableForest82
enjoyiableForest82
July 12th, 2016 6:45pm
7 hours of sleep maximum. If you can't 6 will be okay but it I very important to rest your body, if you don't it might cause long term problems
Profile: healingHelp
healingHelp
June 21st, 2016 6:27pm
Varies from person to person, age is an important factor. Children or the elderly need around 10 hours sleep a night, while adults are usually suggested to have around 8. But find what works for you, some people are fine with only 5 hours sleep, some can't survive having less than 10 hours!
Anonymous
June 6th, 2016 4:23am
It depends on age and many other different factors. The average is 8. The goal is to find a time where you wake up feeling refreshed. It's also important to wake up in the right time of your sleep cycle so you don't feel groggy.
Profile: MariaCuddleBunnyCx
MariaCuddleBunnyCx
May 31st, 2016 11:12am
In my opinion, I believe anything from 7-9 hours. Any less will leave you drowsy however, any more will also leave you in an unhealthy state!
Anonymous
May 11th, 2016 5:56am
I think about 8 hours
Anonymous
May 9th, 2016 1:35pm
at least 7-8 hours a day if you practice polyphasic sleep maybe atleast 4 hrs
Anonymous
May 3rd, 2016 3:07am
You need eight hours of sleep in a night. Well, something that I heard on the radio was seven hours and forty-six minutes.
Profile: floatingonclouds
floatingonclouds
March 29th, 2016 5:15am
Please, please try to get 9 hours and 15 minutes every night at least! Especially if you are a student... when you learn new things at school, your brain has it freshly stored in your memory. When you go to bed, all of what you learnt has to be processed in a certain amount of time. So if you sleep late, your brain has less time to process all that information!
Profile: Maddiejb202
Maddiejb202
December 29th, 2015 11:27am
It depends on age. if you are 16 and under i recommend around 8. 17 and up can have about 6-7. that is a realistic answer though. the proper recommended amount is 9-10 for ages 15 andunder. Also, 7-8 For 17 and up.
Profile: wonderer
wonderer
December 18th, 2014 11:28pm
While they say 8 hours of sleep is ideal, many people can survive on less then that. Many adults can live with 6 hours of sleep a night. It really depends on the individual what works best. If you are feeling exhausted when you wake up or feeling like you need a nap in the middle of the day it could be you aren't getting enough sleep.
Profile: OrangeSlices
OrangeSlices
August 12th, 2015 5:14am
This does vary person to person, usually though a person should get between 7-8 hours a night, maybe even 9! But I have known some people that rely off 3-4 hours. I myself need about 12 hours to even feel brand new again and ready for a new day. They say 7-8 hours (From what I've read in articles and such) Best of luck though, get as many Z's as you can! :)
Anonymous
August 3rd, 2015 1:47pm
For teens between thirteen and seventeen years old, about nine hours of sleep is the doctor recommended amount.
Anonymous
June 12th, 2015 12:41pm
Well, it's always different. It depends on how I feel. When I'm very stressed, I tend to sleep more during the day. And other days i dont have a choice on how much i sleep because school.
Profile: tealGrapes4767
tealGrapes4767
June 3rd, 2015 4:00pm
@cashmeredreams has a point, it depends on the person. I personally think that we must sleep between 8-9 hours a night. And it it is good to make a nap after having lunch every day if it's possible. This helps us to be active during the day.
Profile: ScreenNamesAreHardToChoose
ScreenNamesAreHardToChoose
April 5th, 2015 4:00pm
When I was at my best, I was sleeping a solid consistant 6 hours a night, although you should be fine sleeping up to 8 or 9 hours, as long as it's the same consistent amount of time, and at roughly the same time you go to sleep and wake up. Any more than that, or if the time you go to sleep/wake up is at different times from day-to-day, then you will notice some grogginess during the day, and you may not function very well mentally.
Profile: SoaringSky
SoaringSky
January 2nd, 2015 11:46pm
Almost anyone you ask this question would say 8, but from my experience, it depends on what you're used to. I have suffered from insomnia for years, and have gotten by on very little sleep. Now that I've made serious progress with my anxiety and my sleeping problems, I find that while I am able to sleep for longer periods of time, especially with the aid of medication, I feel worse than I do when I sleep very little. For me, the most I can manage is 5 or 6 hours or so.
Profile: zzz
zzz
December 19th, 2014 12:00pm
Each person has different needs. To find out your own pattern, you can try setting up an alarm to wake up at the same time everyday and pay attention to at what time at night you usually get tired enough to sleep. Usually it will be a little more or less than 8 hours, often more for teenagers.
Profile: Teasley4031
Teasley4031
December 19th, 2014 9:04am
I think that the hours of sleep one needs at night is going to vary person to person. I think a minimum of 6 hours is what's needed, but some people need more. Now yes, you're going to get the occasional person that SAY they only need 2-3 hours of sleep per night and while they might be able to function during the day, are they able to really reach their full potential had they gotten a good nights rest? I think people need to be aware of the signals their body is sending them, if your body is indicating it needs more sleep to function properly, then get more sleep (without oversleeping! There's such a fine line between the two)
Profile: Rollinginthedeep
Rollinginthedeep
December 19th, 2014 4:29am
Typically spending 6-8 hours sleeping works best for me, I think somewhere in that range is reasonable.
Profile: Ej
Ej
December 19th, 2014 3:36am
It should be noted that the amount of sleep varies from person to person, age to age, and lifestyle to lifestyle. It is recommended for most healthy adults that 7.5-9 hours is ideal and even more for teenagers. The aforementioned standards are also recognized by the National Sleep Foundation and should be advocated as such; no simple answer is warranted or permissible to all individuals as universally acceptable. In essence, there is no magical answer. Tinkerbell wouldn't like that answer. :( The scenario provided is the "U-turn" example, and applies to adults. One one line is short-duration sleep, usually measured between 3-5 hours of sleep. Shortness in sleep leads to increase in body mass index (BMI), increase risk in diabetes and heart disease, increase risk in mental illnesses, and so on. On the other line is too much sleep, typically referred to as more than 8-9 hours depending on the study. Although there is strong evidence linking too much sleep as a negative, it should be noted this is still refuted as correlation (the likelihood of sleeping too much leads to negative impacts) doesn't necessarily mean causation (sleeping too much IS harmful). Using this knowledge provided, it would be best to consult the family physician as they would be able to consider all of your biological and social variables. Some researchers (Youngstedt and Kripke) even believe those sleeping more than 8 hours a day would benefit from decreasing sleep to 8 hours max just as those with increased appetites would benefit from controlling eating habits. Since the studies are ongoing, adapting, evolving, and changing, it would be best to consult the family physician for the most accurate answer, or seek a professional in the appropriate field who specializes in this area.