Are You Getting the Right Amount of Sleep?

More sleep can restore you to normal.

 

In a fast-paced world filled with many demands on your time, sleep might well end up on the low end of your list of priorities. Though your body is physically at rest while you sleep, a flurry of activity is occurring that helps keep you healthy. Inadequate sleep does more than make you cranky, forgetful and accident-prone. It can also increase your risk for many serious health conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and poor immune system function. While adequate sleep is clearly important to your good health, how much is enough?

Average Sleep Recommendations

While the question seems simple, how much sleep is the right amount is complex. Your age is an important factor, but there is also individual variability. The National Sleep Foundation convened a panel of renowned experts to review medical research and determine how much sleep is ideal for people in specific age ranges.
Their conclusions — published in March 2015 in the journal Sleep Health — made these recommendations for daily sleep requirements for adults:

• Age 18 to 64 years: 7 to 9 hours
• Age 65 and older: 7 to 8 hours

These recommendations represent averages. But the National Sleep Foundation panel also noted that the range of what might be acceptable and healthy for individuals is much broader.