Too much sleep can be just as bad for you as too little sleep. If you’re wondering how much sleep do people need, according to an article found via helpguide.org, most adults need between 7 – 9 hours of quality sleep in order to function at their best.
How much sleep do people need?
Below is a chart found via the National Sleep Foundation’s website showing how much sleep humans need at the various stages of their life.
National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep Duration Recommendations :
|
Age |
Recommended |
May be appropriate |
Not recommended |
|
Newborns 0-3 months
|
14 to 17 hours |
11 to 13 hours 18 to 19 hours |
Less than 11 hours More than 19 hours |
|
Infants 4-11 months
|
12 to 15 hours |
10 to 11 hours 16 to 18 hours |
Less than 10 hours More than 18 hours |
|
Toddlers 1-2 years
|
11 to 14 hours |
9 to 10 hours 15 to 16 hours |
Less than 9 hours More than 16 hours |
|
Preschoolers 3-5 years
|
10 to 13 hours |
8 to 9 hours 14 hours |
Less than 8 hours More than 14 hours |
|
School-aged Children 6-13 years
|
9 to 11 hours |
7 to 8 hours 12 hours |
Less than 7 hours More than 12 hours |
|
Teenagers 14-17 years
|
8 to 10 hours |
7 hours 11 hours |
Less than 7 hours More than 11 hours |
|
Young Adults 18-25 years
|
7 to 9 hours |
6 hours 10 to 11 hours |
Less than 6 hours More than 11 hours |
|
Adults 26-64 years
|
7 to 9 hours |
6 hours 10 hours |
Less than 6 hours More than 10 hours |
|
Older Adults ≥ 65 years
|
7 to 8 hours |
5 to 6 hours 9 hours |
Less than 5 hours More than 9 hours |
Life is not a fairy tale and a beauty pillow has no magical powers.
In the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, an evil witch casts a spell on a princess that she will one day prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. Another witch tries to undo the spell but can only modify it to make it so that the princess will not die but will fall into a deep sleep from which she will awaken after 100 years when she is kissed by the son of a king. You would want to think that after being asleep for 100 years you will wake up looking magnificently beautiful like Sleeping Beauty. After all, sleep is supposed to be great for your looks. But the truth about sleep is that you wouldn’t actually be lying still on your back with your face protected by a beauty pillow for 100 years. And after tossing and turning in sleep for 100 years, no magical beauty pillow or magical anything to safeguard you from all the mites, bed bugs, insects, bacteria, dust and what not that will breed and collect on and around you, you will not be a sleeping beauty when the handsome prince discovers your body 100 years after you fell asleep. The likelihood that a young handsome prince will be inspired to kiss you and wake you, well, let’s just say it would have to be the case that he had a sight disorder which caused him to see you as you were on the day you first fell asleep instead of seeing you as you are 100 years later sleep or no sleep.
So how much sleep do people need? Not 100 years!
100 years of sleep would be bad for you
Beauty pillow or no beauty pillow, if you slept for 100 years, you would not wake up beautiful. You would not wake up coherent and functional after 100 years of sleep. A handsome prince would never fall in love with you if he found you asleep in bed and you’d been there sleeping for 100 years. That can only happen in a fairy tale. In the real world, some people report being able to sleep for 24-hour stretches (typically they did this after reportedly staying up for 2 and 3 day stretches.) But as you can see in the National Sleep Foundation’s chart, the most number of hours of sleep recommended is 17 hours, and that is for newborn babies 0 – 3 months in age. If you’re 18 or older you are recommended not to sleep for more than 11 hours at a time. And how much older than 18 you are changes that recommendation. If you’re younger than 64 but older than 25, you’re recommended not to sleep for more than 10 hours at a time or fewer than 6 hours.
The ideal number of hours of sleep for an adult 18 – 64, according to the National Sleep Foundation, is 7 – 9 hours.
How much sleep do people need if they want to wake up looking like sleeping beauty?
If you want to wake up looking like sleeping beauty, you’re probably still recommended to get between 7 – 9 hours of sleep if you’re between the ages of 18 – 64. In this case it won’t be the number of hours of sleep that matter but the quality of sleep. And this is where you might want to give serious consideration to buying a beauty pillow if you don’t already have one.
A beauty pillow can help you get a more restful higher quality sleep that helps you look your best when you wake up in the morning.
Featured Beauty Pillow
Vasseur International – Anti Wrinkle Beauty Pillow (purchase via amazon.com)
- Specially designed pillow to prevent sleep wrinkles
- Satin pillowcase prevents hair creasing and won’t absorb skin care products
- Comes in a variety of colors: Ivory, Pink, Slate Blue and White
- Handmade in the USA
- Can be used by side, back or stomach sleepers
Sleep is the best natural deterrent to premature aging. A beauty pillow isn’t going to stop you from aging or get rid of your existing signs of aging. A beauty pillow will help you to prevent premature aging that is caused by bad sleeping habits and positions. You won’t be magically transformed to where you look like Sleeping Beauty looks when she wakes up after 100 years of sleep. But you might find yourself looking better than you look when you wake up after a night of tossing and turning and smudging your face into your acne causing linen.
How do scientists go about determining the answer to the question how much sleep do people need?
Why do you only need 8 hours of sleep if you are over 65 or 9 hours of sleep if you are 18 – 64? Are these recommendations based on factual knowledge about the human brain and how sleep affects it? If someone over 65 sleeps for 13 hours per night on average what is likely to happen?
It is said that “sleep is an active period in which a lot of important processing, restoration, and strengthening occurs.” (source). So if someone over 65 tries to sleep for 13 hours every night, do they increase their chances of functioning at a higher level. Or is it the case that getting more sleep than is recommended for your age group, regardless if you are 0-3 months old or over 65, begins to have the opposite effect on brain function? We’ll do more research into this and talk about it more at a later date.