How Many Hours A Day We Should Sleep ?
Sleep is our fundamental need to live. It is absolutely essential for good health. Sleep affects people all day. We get energy from it. With a good sleep, we feel relaxed, fresh and ready to do everything. Unfortunately, we don’t exactly how many hours we should sleep or what should we do a good quality sleep. We have a very busy life. We work all day, get stuck in traffic, spend time with our loved ones and we are trying to raise every business on time. So, sometimes we forget to take good care of ourselves. Sleep is more than just a time for our body and mind to rest. In fact, our brain and body work very hard.
Our mind process and responds to important emotions and experiences from the day. We are truly learning what we learned. Sleep is a regulator of hormones, emotions and neural activity. Being sleep deprived for just 1 night can increase our emotional response to negative feelings by 60%. During sleep, our body helps to regulate inner clock, immune system, memory, metabolism, inflammation and appetite control.
Recommended amount of Sleep
Newborns (0-3 months) — 14 to 17 hours a day
Infants (4-11 months) — about 12 to 15 hours
Toddlers (1-2 years) — about 11 to 14 hours
Preschoolers (3-5 years) — 10 to 13 hours
School-age children (6-13 years) — 9 to 11 hours
Teenagers (14-17 years) — 8 to 10 hours
Younger Adults (18-25 years) — 7 to 9 hours
Adults (26-64 years) — 7 to 9 hours
Older Adults (65+) — 7 to 8 hours
What influences sleep quality ?
Most influential factors are stimulants like coffee and energy drinks, using too many electronic devices, external lights, alarm clocks and definitely stress! Also, every person’s need can change because of their lifestyle. It includes age, working hours, nutrition and exercise. In addition to these factors, some special circumstances can affect to sleep time and quality. For example; pregnancy, aging, physical and psychological problems affect quite a lot. Similarly, much common sleep disease affects negatively such as sleep apnea. We should care about sleep health.
What do we need for good Sleep ?
Here are a few tips to improve our sleep! We should follow a regular schedule. Going to bed at the same time each night makes it easier to regulate the inner clock. We should create a restful bedtime routine. Making mindfulness exercise can help to do it. Relaxing routine can help us to get in the mood sleep. Listening soft music or breathing exercise will help to sleep easily. We should sleep at dark, warm, and in a quiet place. We should minimize caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. Good nutrition helps to good sleep. We should reduce using electronic devices at night. Turn it off! We should be more active during the day. Studies show that being active helps to feel relaxed and increase the quality of sleep. Taking bath can makes it easier. We can get away from the stress and fatigue of the day.
