How Much Sleep Do We Really Need ?

When we drift off to sleep, we either fall into a deep, restful sleep, or into a shallow, light sleep. It becomes obvious that if you experience a deep sleeping for few hours, it will be better than sleeping for long hours while experiencing a shallow sleeping as you will find yourself very tired, and your body is exhausted when you wake up.


Many studies make it clear that the amount of sleep each person needs varies and depends on many factors, including age. Infants generally require about 16 hours a day, while teenagers need about 9 hours on average. For most adults, 7 to 8 hours a night appears to be the best amount of sleep, although some people may need as few as 5 hours or as many as 10 hours of sleep each day. Women in the first 3 months of pregnancy often need several more hours of sleep than usual. The amount of sleep a person needs also increases if he or she has been deprived of sleep in previous days. Getting too little sleep creates a 'sleep debt,' which is much like being overdrawn at a bank. Eventually, your body will demand that the debt be repaid.