Age is the most important determinant of the required amount of sleep a person needs. The volume of children’s sleep hours will depend on the stage of they are currently in. In the case of newborns, they sleep an average of 16 to 18 hours a day. As they reach the age of one, children’s sleep usually sleep for up to 14 hours daily.
According to researchers, teenagers require at least eight and a half hours of sleep a day. The amount of sleep required among teenagers is less compared to children’s sleep. Others say that teens now need more than nine and a half hours of sleep a day. Teens nowadays are exposed to different kinds of external factors that tend to change their biological clock, leaving them awake in the evening and sluggish at daytime. Because of these changes, some of them develop a sleep disorder. If they regularly don’t have enough time to sleep during the night because of school demands, they may develop insomnia early in life—a sleeping disorder than involves the inability to sleep during nighttime. Exam pressure can also aggravate insomnia. Aside from this, too much stress and anxiety can cause one to be sleep deprived. When the mind is too busy thinking about things, it fails to signal the body to sleep ineffectively. In fact, worrying is one of the biggest contributors of insomnia, a sleep disorder that is common to both teens and adults these days. Adults need eight hours of sleep for them to be productive with their daily activities. Adults who lack sleep are unable to concentrate at work, risking their jobs and their career development. Adults who have demanding work schedules and unpredictable work patterns are unable to sleep most of the time. Because of this, these adults develop insomnia or other sleep disorder. Pregnant and menopausal women are also prone to developing sleep disorder due to hormonal changes. When a pregnant woman is in her first three months of pregnancy, she requires more sleep than usual. In the case of menopause women, scientists found out that women reduce their quality of sleep when they reach this particular stage. Menopause can lead to insomnia, sleep apnea, or sleepiness for some women. Aside from the hormones, menopausal woman also develop sleep disorder because of the psychological impact brought about by menopause. Depression and anxiety causes menopausal woman to stay awake at night. Children’s sleep hours are the longest obviously, and they are the ones who need it most. However, teens and adults should maintain the required number of sleep hours for them to be healthy as well.
Josh Tal is the Operations and Public Relations Manager for www.CityofSleep.com, an online sleep resource center. Josh is a boarded sleep technician (RPSGT) by trade. In addition, he is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at Palo Alto University with a focus on Women's Health and Neuroscience through Stanford University. He works as a research assistant at Stanford University's Late-Life and Lifespan Approach to Neuropsychiatric Disorders Lab.