How many hours?

About this video

A friend says five hours a night is plenty. A grandmother sleeps nine. A baby seems to sleep half the day. Is there one number of hours everyone should sleep? No. Sleep experts looked at many studies of sleep and health and agreed on ranges for each age, in hours of sleep in 24 hours, done regularly: babies of 4 to 12 months 12 to 16 hours, children of 1 to 2 years 11 to 14, children of 3 to 5 years 10 to 13 (naps included for all three), 6 to 12 years 9 to 12, teenagers of 13 to 18 years 8 to 10, and adults 7 or more. Most adults need 7 to 9 hours. Newborns under 4 months are left out: their sleep varies so much that the experts set no range.

Need varies between people of the same age too. In the words of the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, "there is no magic amount of sleep that works for everybody of the same age". That is why the experts give ranges.

Can you catch up at the weekend? In a small lab study, young adults slept only 5 hours a night on weekdays and then as long as they liked at the weekend. They slept only about an hour more in total, far less than they had lost, and in the new week their body clocks ran later than before. More is not always better either: in children and teenagers, regularly sleeping much more than the recommended hours may be linked to health problems, and someone who always needs a lot of sleep and still feels tired should talk to a doctor. This video goes with the lesson How Much Sleep You Need in Knaph's Health Level 1 course.

Transcript

1. 0:00A friend says five hours is plenty. Grandma sleeps nine. The baby sleeps half the day. Who is right?
2. 0:09Sleep experts agree on a range for each age. Babies need twelve to sixteen hours, with naps. School children nine to twelve. Teenagers eight to ten. And adults, seven or more. Most need seven to nine.
3. 0:31There is no magic amount that works for everybody of the same age. That's why they are ranges.
4. 0:40In one study, young adults slept five hours on weekdays, then as long as they liked at the weekend. They got back only about an hour. And their body clocks ran later.
5. 0:58More isn't always better. If you sleep enough and still feel tired every day, tell a doctor.
6. 1:08Enough sleep on most nights beats catching up.