To sustain life, no more than 3 to 5 hours a night of sleep are required; however, this amount of sleep leads to daytime sleepiness, impaired performance, and reduced executive functions, which are important in decision-making and affect one’s ability to perform complex tasks.
To sustain optimal alertness throughout the day, the requirement varies across individuals. For some persons, 5 hours is enough, for others, 10 hours. The mean is 7 to 8 hours for adults. Some opine modern society sleeps too little and there is no doubt that artificial light has made a vast difference to sleeping habits in recent centuries.
The National Sleep Foundation’s recommendations for nightly sleep are broken down into nine age groups.
1. For newborns, 0-3 months old, the recommended hours of sleep are 14-17 hours
2. For infants (4-11 months old), 12-15 hours
3. Toddlers, (1-2 years old), 11-14 hours
4. Preschoolers, (3-5 years old), 10-13 hours
5. School age children, (6-13 years old), 9-11 hours
6. Teens, (14-17 years old), 8 to 10 hours
7. Young adults, (18-25 years old), 7-9 hours
8. Adults, (26-64 years old), 7-9 hours
9. Older adults, (65 or more years old), 7-8 hours
To get better rest and sleep, we can improve our bedroom setting and observe our lifestyle and habits that impact on sleep. Examples of sleep hygiene improvements include:
Sticking to the same sleep schedule every day, even on weekends. This may be easier to achieve by fixing our awakening time. Once we fix this, it will be easier to initiate sleep at night.
Practicing a relaxing pre-bed routine to make it easier to fall asleep quickly
Choosing a mattress that is supportive and comfortable and outfitting it with quality pillows and bedding.
Minimizing potential disruptions from light and sound while optimizing our bedroom temperature and comfort.
Disconnecting from electronic devices like mobile phones and computers for an hour or more before bed.
Carefully monitoring our intake of caffeine and alcohol. It is advisable not to smoke cigarettes.
Putting aside time in the daytime for physical exercises
Learning to practise relaxation techniques and mindfulness in the daytime as how we feel in the daytime will also ability our sleep quality at night.
