How much sleep do you need?

How much sleep do you need?

How much sleep we need is impacted by our age and an assortment of health conditions.

Babies up to around 4 years of age should be getting up to around 14 hours a day, but this can be at night and during daytime naps.
Small children up to 5 should be getting anywhere between 10 and 13 hours of sleep a night.
Children 6 - 13 require between 9 and 11 hours of sleep.
Teenagers should aim for a minimum of 8 hours of sleep a night.
A standard healthy adult should aim to get between 7 and 9 hours of good sleep a night.
These are ideals as stated by professionals who have studied the impact of sleep on the average individual amongst these ages. We know that there are a number of circumstances which can turn these into an impossible reality. From parents of small children who appear to not sleep at night, to teenagers who stay up all night on games, it can be difficult to see how these hours are achievable.
Creating a routine in your household to help to aim for at least the minimum optimum sleep time can help to improve the overall health and wellbeing of the family within your home.
Creating a routine and a cut off time for technology or play can help to reduce the brain's activity to ensure that it switches off early enough to get a good night's sleep.
With small children, reading to them at night over allowing them to watch TV can help them to switch off and enter a deeper sleep, which might mean that the parents are treated to a full nights sleep instead of being woken up during the night.

Check out our blog regularly for any tips you need to get to sleep.