How much sleep does the Adult Human body require?

Sleep is not always about feeling refreshed or being in the state of alert; sometimes it also plays a critical role in a range of bodily functions, starting from your brain’s ability to store new information to the repair of heart and blood vessels. Having a proper sleep enhances your problem-solving skills, helps regulate mood and even strengthens your immune system. To be precise, good sleep is not a luxury but a necessity for a healthy, productive life.

In-fact, one-third of our adult population sleep six hours or less a night, which sometimes can even lead to serious health conditions. Inadequate sleep can increase the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease in your body. (source: health.harvard.edu) However, it is important to notice that sleep can vary from individual to individual based upon different factors like your age and lifestyle. For instance you might need seven hours of sleep whereas your friend might need nine hours of sleep to function properly. So it is important for you to understand the fact that how much sleep does the adult human body require and in this blog we would cover that for you.

Understanding sleep needs across different age groups especially adults

It is important for us to understand that each age group require different sleeping hours and here we have given the list of sleep duration for all age groups:

As a toddler (0-3 years old) , sleep plays a crucial role in your life for your growth and development. Sleep for a toddler is recommended to be 14-17 hours per day. Yes you heard that right, as an infant you need to take extensive sleep for physical and cognitive development.
When you become a preschooler (3-5 years old) your sleep patterns change and for you as a preschooler it is required to take 10-13 hours of sleep per day because a good night’s sleep will help you maintain focus, regulate emotions and will support your physical development.
School age children ( 6-12 years old) are mostly required to complete 9 to11 hours of sleep per day so that they can enhance their memory and overall well-being, to do so they require a complete bedtime routine.
And as you enter adulthood (18-64 years old), your sleep pattern stabilizes and you are required to take a minimum of 7 hours of sleep. So that you can boost your productivity, mood and overall health.

What are some factors that cause sleep problems in adults?

Here we have mentioned some of the factors that you are dependent upon to know how much sleep do you actually need as an adult:

Quality of Sleep

The quality of your sleep matters and waking up multiple times at night due to noise, discomfort or sleep disorders like insomnia and sleep apnea cause frequent awakening and disrupts our sleep cycle, preventing us from reaching deep stages of rest.

Lifestyle and Health Conditions

Our overall daily habits and health impact our sleep patterns in following ways:

(i) Stress: Stress is the modern day companion to your busy life and high stress levels lead to difficulty in falling asleep as thousands of thoughts, anxiety and worries keep tossing in your head and keep you awake during the night. But, somehow if you still manage to fall asleep, stress at that time can cause you disturbed sleep in which you might wake up frequently.

(ii) Physical Activity: Exercises are your double-edged sword when it comes to your sleep and doing physical activities like aerobic exercise improves your sleep quality by regulating your blood which then enhances your sleep. One thing that you should still avoid is doing intense workouts close to bedtime because these types of workouts can elevate adrenaline rush making it harder to wind down.

(iii) Medical conditions: Having health conditions like sleep apnea interrupts breathing during sleep which leads to frequent awakenings and poor sleep quality. Moreover when you have problems like chronic pain such as arthritis, back problems or migraines they also disrupt your sleep cycle.

Genetics

Genetics play a crucial role in sleep requirements because some of us are naturally “short-sleepers” whereas some of us need long sleeping hours to rest. These genetic variations are still being studied, but they highlight the individuality of our sleep needs.

Always remember that your sleep needs involves:

Self-awareness
Experimentation
Listening to your body

Consequences of Sleep Deprivation in adults

As an adult if you not complete at least 7 hours of sleep, then you might face several consequences such as:

Cognitive Impairment

If you do not sleep it doesn’t just give you irritation but also affects your cognitive abilities. How? Let us tell you, have you ever tried focusing on a task after a sleepless night? At that time doesn’t it feel like catching a slippery fish with bare hands. It happens because without having a proper rest your ability to retain information also suffers and you become impulsive opting for short term gains over long-term benefits.

Changes your Mood

Ever snapped at someone for no apparent reason? If you have, then you can easily blame it on sleep deprivation because it destroys our patience and even small annoyances start causing bigger problems.

Lack of sleep doesn’t leave anxiety behind and multiply our worries causing an increased risk of depression. It will work as a storm of dark thoughts building up in your mind making everyday more overwhelming for you.

Increases health concerns

If you’re sleep deprived you might crave sugary and high calorie food and this thing mostly happens due to hormonal imbalances caused in your body due to insufficient rest. Hormones like ghrelin and leptin are affected by inadequate sleep and whenever we have not completed our sleep the ghrelin levels rise, leading to increased hunger and leptin levels decrease making it harder to feel satisfied after eating. The combination of these hormonal changes automatically contributes to your weight gain and obesity.

Having poor sleep also impacts your insulin sensitivity which is very important to maintain stable blood sugar level. It happens because when we don’t get enough rest our cells become less responsive to insulin which leads to insulin resistance and this condition then increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Conclusion

We hope that you’ve got your answer that an adult require a minimum of 7 hours sleep and if one doesn’t follow this basic routine then they might go under various challenges which will impact their overall well-being, Therefore, we want you to create a relaxing bedtime routine with which you should be consistent so that you can live a healthy life.