How much sleep do I need?

by Dr Caitlin Chasser

FREE DOWNLOAD: Bedtime Planning for a Great Night's Sleep

In this article Dr Caitlin explains how much sleep we all really need...

Does everyone need the same amount of sleep?

Everyone has a biological sleep need - a certain amount of sleep they require to do all the important functions of life. In the same way that people have different shoe sizes, they also have different sleep needs. In general, people need more sleep when they're younger, tend to sleep in a bit later as a teenager, and then later in life start shifting their body clock a little bit earlier and need a little less sleep overall. But underneath that general pattern we see that each person has an underlying sleep need which is personal to them, and determined by their genetics. 

Can I train myself to sleep less?

This individual biological sleep need is set and cannot be changed, no matter how hard we try or train ourselves to sleep less. While many might want to scrimp on their sleep and only sleep 4 hours a night in order to be more ‘efficient’, it is simply not possible. Our body needs a certain amount of sleep to function, perform and stay healthy; and if we try to sleep less than our biological sleep need we will pay the price. 

Is it possible to sleep too much?

In the opposite way, if we stay in bed longer than our sleep need, we won’t sleep any longer, as our body simply does not require any more sleep. If you suffer from insomnia, your sleep quality is normally poor and un-refreshing, and as a result it is very common to spend more time in bed hoping to be able to catch up on sleep. Unfortunately, though this seems like a sensible thing to do, it often makes insomnia worse. This is because you end up spending more time in bed awake rather than sleeping and, over time, the association between your bed and sleep weakens until your brain sees the bed as a place of frustration, worry and rumination. 

How can I determine how much sleep I personally need?

How do you know how much sleep YOU need? What is YOUR biological sleep need? Well we know that the average adult needs 7-9 hours of sleep, so that's a good starting point. While there are people who sleep 6-7 hours or 9-10 hours per night and function normally, these people are relatively rare. But the important thing to remember is, in the same way that not everyone has size 6 feet, not everyone sleeps 8 hours so please don’t worry if you are sleeping 7 hours and feel fine. The best gauge of whether you are sleeping enough is how you feel the next day. If you wake up refreshed and energised you are probably sleeping enough for you.

Another great measure is how quickly you fall asleep. If you fall asleep within 15 minutes of your head hitting the pillow, you are probably sleep deprived and need a bit more time in bed. If you take more than 30 minutes to fall asleep on a regular basis or wake frequently in the night then you may have insomnia and often the best treatment is CBT-I, a treatment that improves sleep for as many as 80% of people.

How can I start improving my sleep?

So start tonight, take a note of when you go to bed, how long you take to fall asleep and how you feel in the morning. It's the first step to great energising sleep.