How much sleep do you need by age? That is a tricky question to answer, every person is different and our sleeping needs vary a lot. It is important to notice that there is a huge difference between sleeping a lot and sleeping enough. What I mean by this is that sleeping way more or way less than advised is probably equally terrible for your well-being.
These are the advised hours of sleep a person needs every night:
There is a huge difference between a newborn’s sleep requirements and an adult’s sleep requirements after the age of 65. On the chart below you can see how much sleep is needed per age as well as how much sleep “May be appropriate”
| Age | Hours Needed | May be appropriate |
| Newborn to 3 months old | 14 – 17 hrs | 11 – 19 hrs |
| 4 to 11 months old | 12 – 15 hrs | 10 – 18 hrs |
| 1 to 2 years old | 11 – 14 hrs | 9 – 16 hrs |
| 3 to 5 years old | 10 – 13 hrs | 8 – 14 hrs |
| 6 to 13 years old | 9 – 11 hrs | 7 – 12 hrs |
| 14 to 17 years old | 8 – 10 hrs | 7 – 11 hrs |
| 18 to 25 years old | 7 – 9 hrs | 6 – 11 hrs |
| 26 to 64 years old | 7 – 9 hrs | 6 – 10 hrs |
| 65 years old or more | 7 – 8 hrs | 5 – 9 hrs |
All in all, it seems that a human’s need for sleep gets reduced the older we get. Here I would like to point out that sleep on its own is not enough as we should be aiming for quality sleep, not quantity! Moreover, it is important to note that our need to sleep and relax our body can be different according to our day. For example, a teenager between the age of 14 and 17 that decided to stay home all day needs less sleep than a peer who went to the gym for 3 hours straight.
How do I know if I sleep enough?
There is only one main criterion to help you decide if you have slept enough or not. When you wake up in the morning, do you feel that you had enough sleep in your night? Do you feel refreshed, restful and ready to conquer the day? If not then you definitely didn’t sleep well (but this could also mean that your environment wasn’t ideal for a great sleep)