home Audience 12 Sleep norm: how many hours should you sleep? The eternal question is how much sleep does an adult need per day?

Sleep norm: how many hours should you sleep? The eternal question is how much sleep does an adult need per day?

Kalinov Yuri Dmitrievich

Reading time: 4 minutes

The question of what happens to the mortal body and soul during sleep has tormented humanity since the very dawn of its development. Some people think that in dreams we travel to other worlds and see the future. Some scientists previously believed that this phenomenon was extremely harmful, because during inactivity the body accumulates poisons and toxins. Others said that the process of falling asleep begins only when the rate of blood circulation decreases. With development modern technologies managed to more or less lift the veil of secrecy over this topic. Let's figure out why and how much sleep a person needs, why it is important to get enough sleep, and why lack of sleep is so terrible.

Why is it necessary to sleep?

Any living organism, even the simplest one, needs proper rest. Expression " best vacation- change of activity” reflects what happens during sleep. After all, for the brain, sleep is an option for changing activities. In no case does it turn off; while you are in the grip of dreams, work continues to boil in your body.

Sleep functions:

“Respite” for organs and muscles.
Replenishment of energy resources by the body.
While a person sleeps, “cleaning” occurs in his body under the guidance of the brain - toxins are neutralized and bound.
New skills are consolidated and long-term memory is formed.
Scanning and detection occurs problem areas in the body, the process of self-healing and recovery begins.
Immunomodulatory cells are formed, that is, immunity improves.

Previously, daytime wakefulness was considered the norm and night sleep, but modern reality has reshaped the daily routine to suit itself. Many people do not have the opportunity or desire to spend precious hours on sleep due to work schedules, the rhythm of life, and leisure time. Chronic lack of sleep is considered one of the main problems of our time.

How much sleep does an adult need?

According to participants at the World Congress of Sleep Medicine, the average adult needs 6-9 hours of sleep per day. This need is determined genetically and is satisfied within the specified time for 97% of the planet's population. As you can see, the range is quite large, because every person needs different time to sleep. Moreover, this need can change from day to day. That is, today 7 hours is enough for you, but tomorrow you need at least 8.5.

Sleep for a person is a vital necessity. You can do without it for only a short time; after 5 days without sleep, irreversible processes are launched in the body, which as a result can lead to death.

So how much sleep does an adult need per day to always be in good shape?

A dream or a third of life

Babies sleep up to 20 hours a day. With age, the need for sleep gradually decreases and reaches an average of 7 - 8 hours every 24 hours. But this amount is about a third of a day! This means that people spend about a third of their entire lives sleeping.

Sleep is a great cure for many well-being problems

And this is not a waste of time:

in sleep, the body rests, strength is restored, tension is relieved;
the brain “processes” all the information from the past day, and it is in a dream that the material being studied is memorized;
in this state the processes of healing the body from viral and colds, immunity is strengthened;
a person adapts to the change of day and night.

Important fact! A night's rest gives not only relaxation and health.

Sleep preserves beauty and youth for those who monitor compliance with sleep and wakefulness

Knowing the benefits of sleep and how much sleep a child and an adult need per day, it becomes clear that people need to try to do everything to make this time pass as efficiently and comfortably as possible.

What destroys healthy sleep

First, information about what negatively affects sleep:

Disruption of the natural rhythm of sleep caused by nature. Such violations include, for example, night shifts, when a person is forced to work at night and rest during the day.
Disturbance in sleep duration.

Lack of sleep manifests itself as lethargy, irritability, increased anxiety, decreased attention and concentration, increased incidence of diseases (colds, acute respiratory infections, etc.) and even weight gain.

Insomnia can become a problem, as fatigue and depression the next day are already guaranteed

If you sleep more than necessary, you also feel lethargic, weak, you may have a headache, and it becomes difficult to concentrate.

Violation of the temperature regime also negatively affects the quality of night's rest.
An uncomfortable mattress or pillow can impair circulation, which can make sleep less rewarding.
Bright light and extraneous sounds will not allow a person to get enough sleep, as a result of which all the signs of lack of sleep will appear.
Eating a large meal shortly before bedtime will cause the stomach to work at night, which will prevent the body from getting quality rest.

How much sleep should a person sleep?

How much sleep a person needs per day depends on a number of indicators: age (child, adult or elderly), gender, degree of fatigue, and so on. As mentioned above, adults require an average of 8 hours of sleep per day. But different age categories require different times.

In children, especially small ones, sleep duration reaches 12 hours

Based on research results, scientists have concluded that sleep standards for each age are as follows:

Newborns up to 4 months sleep on average 17 hours or more;
Infants aged 4 months to 1 year sleep approximately 12 – 15 hours of sleep;
in children of the second year of life, sleep ranges from 11 to 14 hours;
from 2 to 5 years – at least 10 – 11 hours;
Children under 13 years old should sleep from 9 to 11 hours;
for adolescents under 17 years old – from 8 to 10 hours;
adults require 8 - 9 hours of night rest;
older people (over 65 years old) sleep 7-8 hours.

Note! In old people, the natural rhythm of sleep changes, periods of sleep and dozing become shorter, but more often - the duration of night rest decreases, the need arises to take a nap at night. daytime.

At any age, a nap during the day will not hurt if there is a need for rest.

The information in this section about how long a person sleeps can help you create a healthy sleep schedule. It is often difficult for an adult to schedule his daily activities in such a way that he can allocate enough time for good rest how much sleep do you need at his age? However, this is something to strive for.

When to go to bed: time intervals during which the body rests more

There is no doubt that going to bed and falling asleep are very important for a good night's rest. Only adherence to the regime can bring the most tangible results.

You need to go to bed before 24 hours, even better - at 22 hours

At this time, the number of leukocytes in the human body increases and body temperature decreases. The body gives the command - it’s time to go to bed. This is expressed in drowsiness: brain activity decreases, the person begins to yawn, sensitivity decreases sensory systems, there is a burning sensation in the eyes, the eyelids stick together.

You need to learn to go to bed at 22:00

If you ignore these signals from the body, you are unlikely to feel good in the morning - the body will not be able to fully feel everything. positive impact sleep. The morning will be late, and the state will be broken.

It is believed that sleep is most beneficial between 10 pm and 2 am.. Regardless of the circumstances, during these hours a person needs to be in bed and sleep, because the processes occurring in the body at this time cannot be started at another time. As a result, both physical and mental condition person.

Basic rules for healthy sleep

For the right approach To organize a sleep schedule, information about how much sleep an adult needs per day is not enough.

Other factors also play a role.

Daily regime. Healthy, sound sleep requires sufficient strict adherence daily routine - go to bed and get up at the appointed time, which means that the amount of time allotted for sleep will be constant. This rule also applies to weekends - on Saturdays and Sundays you also need to follow the daily routine.
There is no need to stay in bed after waking up. You should set yourself up for the fact that immediately after awakening there is a rise. Lying for a long time can result in falling asleep again, and, as you know, extra sleep will not bring any benefit.

You should not lie in bed for a long time; continuing to sleep may be unnecessary

Ritual before bed. About an hour before bedtime, you should indulge in some quiet activity. It's best to do certain things before going to bed every night that will eventually become associated with sleep, for example, taking a short walk or reading a book at night. Any situation that causes excitement should be avoided.
Avoid daytime naps if you have trouble falling asleep.
Remove the computer and TV from the bedroom. The time spent here should only be spent sleeping and having sex.
Don't eat before bed. The break between dinner and night rest should be at least 2 hours, even better if it is 4 hours. If hunger is very strong, then you can eat something light, for example, an apple or drink kefir.

Relaxing treatments will help you fall asleep easier and have better rest.
Moderate physical exercise while awake will also allow you to fall asleep and sleep faster.
It is not recommended to drink in the evening alcoholic drinks or coffee, smoking cigarettes. These are not the most good habits have a bad effect on sleep and the health of the human body as a whole.

How to get ready for bed

Having determined how much sleep an adult needs per day, you should decide how to do it correctly.

The organization of the process of falling asleep must be taken seriously; it is important to begin preparation in advance.

You should not eat at night; dinner is best planned 4 hours before bedtime, in exceptional cases - 2 hours. If after dinner the feeling of hunger appears again, then you should not eat, you are only allowed to drink a cup herbal tea with honey or a glass of kefir.
In addition to the usual hygiene procedures, a contrast shower is recommended at night, which will help reduce the tension that has accumulated during the day.

Cold and hot shower — best start day

Before going to bed, it is not recommended to watch TV, especially movies and shows that cause anxiety, and you should not sit at the computer. About an hour before bedtime, you should give up these entertainments.
Before going to bed, it is useful to ventilate the bedroom, which will help you fall asleep easily and have a good night's sleep, Fresh air Generally good for health.
For healthy, sound sleep, it is important that the room is sufficiently dark and quiet; if these conditions are difficult to achieve, you can use earplugs and special night glasses.
A relaxing massage, which you can do yourself, will help make it easier to fall asleep and make your sleep more restful and sound.
Sleeping best and healthiest is without clothes, so you should get into the habit of sleeping naked.
You should go to bed at calm state, for this you need to complete all the tasks planned for the day, let go of all problems, at least until the morning.

Eating before bed

It was already mentioned above how many hours before going to bed an adult should have dinner, but it is equally important to correctly distribute the diet throughout the day and prepare the right foods for the evening meal.

Firstly, you should forget about strict restrictions on food intake after 18 hours - Going to bed hungry is bad for both health and good sleep. This means that in matters of nutrition you should adhere to the “golden mean” - do not overeat and do not starve.

Great option for light dinner: fish and seafood with vegetables

Secondly, for dinner it is best to eat light foods that do not cause heaviness and discomfort in the stomach. Will fit well protein products, especially if they contain casein, which takes longer to digest than other proteins. For the last meal of the day, fish, chicken, eggs, cottage cheese, seafood, vegetable salad, etc. are suitable.

It’s worth giving up in the evening following products: flour and sweets, pork, nuts, potatoes, any cereals and pasta.

There is an opinion that it is most beneficial to sleep with your head facing north. Is it so?

There is no clear scientific opinion on this matter, but this statement is supported by one of the Chinese teachings of Feng Shui, which is very popular all over the world. The benefit is explained by the fact that the electromagnetic field of each person is like a compass, in which the head is north and the legs are south.

According to Feng Shui rules, the head should be directed towards the north and the legs should be directed towards the south.

Consequently, if the electromagnetic field of the body coincides with the same field of the planet, then the person is filled with strength and energy, he is happy, his sleep is strong and healthy, and awakening is easy.

How to learn to wake up early

There is a lot to be said about the benefits of getting up early. The most important thing is the opportunity to do more things, because in the early morning the human body has a high efficiency.

At first you need to decide how many hours of sleep per day is best for a particular person(adults most likely know their norm) and when to get up in the morning. The time at which you need to go to bed in order to get enough sleep will depend on these data.

Classic problem: hard to fall asleep in the evening - hard to wake up in the morning

So, your sleep schedule is set, now it's time to think about what goals will get you out of bed early in the morning. Businessmen can do this by knowing how much business value can be done during the morning hours. People who pay increased attention to their health can spend their free time on sports. Everyone must determine why they need to get up early.

Rise Ritual

The following points can be highlighted:

To make it easier to get out of bed, you need to create conditions in the house under which getting up will be comfortable. For this it is important temperature regime in the room: in a stuffy room it will be difficult to wake up, and in a cold room it will be difficult to force yourself to leave the warm bed.
For those who cannot get out of bed on their own in the morning early hours, many devices have been invented, the simplest of which is an alarm clock. But it must be at such a distance that it is necessary to reach it.

Modern technologies have gone much further - one of the latest innovations is a bed that throws off its owner if he does not get up on time, and computer program starting to format HDD, unless you enter a rather long password.

A modern alarm clock will force the owner to hit the target, otherwise it will continue to ring

Some people may prefer the idea of waking up with the help of family or friends. To do this, you should agree with them in advance about phone call V right time, unless, of course, they themselves are sleeping at such an early hour.
Immediately after getting up, you can, for example, take a shower and then drink hot coffee. If certain activities become a daily ritual, waking up early will be easier.
The rise time should not change.
You can come up with an individual system of rewards and penalties for successful and unsuccessful getting up in the morning. For example, during a week of getting up without delays, you can treat yourself to a trip to a cafe, and punish yourself for problems with an extra 5 km on the treadmill.

Formation of new habits occurs within about 2 weeks

After this time, you will not need to make any effort to follow the advice.

Sleep is a third of every person’s life; the quality of life, health and mood, the amount of energy and the ability to concentrate on important things depend on its quality. Therefore, it is so important to know how much sleep an adult needs per day in order to remain all cheerful day.

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Officially, doctors believe that a person should sleep about eight hours a day. According to doctors, if an individual spends more or less time on night rest, this may negatively affect his health. However, many researchers still adhere to a slightly different point of view. In their opinion, the answer to the question of how much sleep a person should have is strictly individual. In this case, everything depends primarily on physical features the body of a particular person, his character and personal qualities.

A good night's rest: two examples from history

It is believed that active people, sanguine and choleric people usually need less time to sleep than phlegmatic and melancholic people. Napoleon, for example, when asked how much sleep a person should sleep a day, once answered: “4 hours for a man, 5 hours for a woman and 6 hours for an idiot.” Leonardo da Vinci never spent any time sleeping at night. To rest, he simply went to bed for 15-20 minutes every three hours. That is, this great person Spent no more than 3 hours a day on sleep.

Scientists have already conducted a very interesting experiment in our time. They found a volunteer who agreed to try Leonardo da Vinci's system on himself. For six months this man slept for 20 minutes once every three hours. At the end of the experiment, it was noted that the biological functions of the subject were absolutely not affected. The mental activity of this person also remained normal during the experiment.

So how much sleep do you need?

Finding the answer to this question for yourself will not be difficult. First, you just need to try to sleep for a couple of weeks as doctors advise. That is, strictly 7-8 hours a day. Although the time needed to sleep is an individual concept, these figures can be considered an average. Most people need this much time to get a good night's rest.

To determine the optimal sleep time, you should carefully monitor the condition of your body throughout the two weeks of the self-conducted experiment. If, after spending 7-8 hours sleeping, you feel lethargic, have a headache, etc., simply try increasing or decreasing this time. In the end, by experience you will definitely be able to determine how many hours you need for a good night's rest.

How much sleep should a person have per week?

If a person needs to spend approximately 8 hours sleeping per day, then it turns out that he needs to sleep 7x8 = 56 hours per week. If you personally have to spend more or less time on your night's rest, you will just need to perform the same simple calculation yourself.

In any case, it’s still worth calculating the time needed for a night’s rest not by weeks, but by days. If, for example, on Monday you sleep for 3 hours at night, and on Tuesday you try to “get” the missing time by sleeping for 13 hours, you still won’t get proper rest. The fact is that one of the absolute conditions for a cheerful mood during the day is adherence to a sleep schedule. That is, no matter how many hours you need to rest at night, you should try to go to bed and get up at strictly defined hours.

Life is getting faster and faster, its rhythm makes us more and more active, forgetting about ourselves and our own health. In the rush to get everything done, people often forget how much sleep they need per day to stay healthy. Sometimes, trying to be in time for everything and everywhere, people devote less and less time to nutritious food, interrupting with fast foods and food “on the go”, they forget about normal mode and daily routine. There are no longer enough hours in the day, and something has to be sacrificed...

One of the most necessary elements human life, along with air, water and food, is sleep

Often this is time to sleep. And then the consequences of this rhythm of life begin. At the age of 30, people of our generation already have a whole “bouquet of diseases” - arrhythmia, headaches, syndrome chronic fatigue and other. You need to understand that we pay for lack of sleep with our health.

Any problems with lack of time can be solved with proper time management and, ultimately, prioritization. After all, no material wealth can replace youth, beauty and health. Systematic lack of sleep is equivalent to several lost years of your life.

How many hours does a person need to sleep?

With the invention of the light bulb and electricity, humanity has the opportunity to not depend on sunrises and sunsets, we can change day and night, we can not take into account the duration of the dark time of the day - this moves us in development and, at the same time, destroys us... Even before Thomas’s invention Edison - the electric light bulb - people slept an average of 9 hours a day. Now this figure is rapidly decreasing and reaches only seven hours out of the 24 we have.

Think about how many hours you sleep a day? Do you maintain a sleep schedule? If yes, then you have an unaffordable luxury in our time. Most people try to combine work, study, family, night parties, and simply waste time watching TV series - this gradually steals the time that should have been devoted to sleep.

Sleep norm

Modern scientists are increasingly coming to the conclusion that there is no single standard of night rest for all people

How much sleep a person needs is an individual and average indicator at the same time. Since childhood, we have heard that we need to sleep 8 hours. So, a person needs AT LEAST 8 hours of sleep per day. This is the minimum that ensures normal functioning body and maintains health. This is our sleep norm. Individually, a person may need a little more time for rest and recovery.

What time should you go to bed?

As already mentioned, thanks to our independence from daylight hours, people can create their own regime. But the point is that The biological clock, laid down to us by nature, is not so easy to deceive. The point is that it is in dark time day - at night, the production of a hormone vital for humans - melatonin - occurs. Melatonin is actively produced from midnight until 2-3 am. Accordingly, a person must sleep at this time, otherwise the lack of melatonin will negatively affect the body’s condition. Melatonin helps keep almost all body systems in order - from the immune system to the cardiovascular system. Also, melatonin helps maintain youth and beauty.

Based on this, it is normal for human body There should be a sleep schedule in which you need to go to bed at 22-23 o'clock and wake up at 7-8 o'clock in the morning. Compliance with this regime and natural biorhythms will have a positive effect on general condition body.

Owls and larks

According to their sleep patterns, all people are divided into night owls and larks.

The excuse that there are types of people: “night owls” and “larks” is refuted by many scientists, since, initially, the biological clock is inherent in every person in exactly the same way. With the onset of darkness, the body should rest, and during the daytime it should be awake and active. “Owls” are people with a broken routine that needs to be corrected.

Consequences of lack of sleep

Everyone knows that the lack of adequate sleep has a bad effect on a person’s condition. I think each of us has encountered feeling unwell after sleepless night. Inability to concentrate, slight weakness, temporary memory impairment are external signs lack of sleep. What happens to our body due to lack of sleep?

Sleep is restoration for the body, rest necessary for the quality functioning of all systems. In case of lack of sleep, malfunctions and disruptions in the functioning of body systems occur. First of all, lack of sleep affects cardiovascular system, and also reduces brain activity, leads to stress and chronic fatigue syndrome. Memory and attention deteriorate and the risk of heart attacks and strokes develops.

A consequence of lack of sleep is also a violation hormonal levels, and this definitely leads to a deterioration in the functioning of the body and negatively affects the appearance.

The risk of developing terrible oncological diseases, from which modern medicine never invented a cure, increases significantly due to lack of sleep.

And most importantly, life expectancy becomes shorter with lack of sleep.

Folk sleeping pills

Since ancient times, people have been looking for various sleeping pills

Many people suffer from insomnia, or mild sleep disturbances; in other words, they have difficulty falling asleep and their sleep is quite restless. In this case, you need to consult a doctor and find out the causes of the disorder. You don’t have to immediately run to the pharmacy for medicine, you can try folk remedies, which are much more environmentally friendly.

Since childhood, we have heard that you need to ventilate the room before going to bed - this is really good, a remedy for insomnia, and even better a short walk will have a positive effect on the quality of sleep.

To sleep better, you can drink a glass of hot milk at night. Or, take a warm bath with pine extracts. Just a couple of drops fir oil will have a beneficial effect on the ability to fall asleep and are great for preventing colds.

What to do before bed to fall asleep quickly

It is recommended to drink before bed herbal teas that calm you down nervous system. The most common herbs that grow in our country are mint, chamomile, motherwort, valerian, and lemon balm. Tea made from these herbs will relax you and make it much easier to fall asleep.

You can also make a small pillow by filling it with the above herbs and adding a couple of drops essential oil lavender. This pillow should be kept on the bed next to your head; the smell of herbs and oils is soothing and has a great effect on sleep.

Everyday healthy sleep- a physiological necessity for any person. It is necessary to take care not only about the duration of sleep, but also about its quality. Full-fledged. Nowadays everything more people experience difficulties in organizing healthy sleep due to leading a certain lifestyle.

Most scientists agree that lack of healthy sleep has the most adverse effect on health.

In addition, numerous studies suggest that women should sleep slightly longer than men.

How many hours do you need for healthy sleep?

How many hours does healthy sleep last for an adult? Some physiologists say that healthy sleep for an adult should last about 8 hours. It is this duration that makes it full and healthy. However, there is another opinion that the duration of good healthy sleep is different for age groups. So, for people aged 20-50 years, sleep should last at least 8 hours. For older people, due to physiological characteristics, 4 hours of sleep is enough.

It is important to observe the start time of sleep. It is believed that it should begin before midnight, ideally from 22 o'clock. The quality of sleep “before midnight” is several times different from sleep “after”. In addition, not only the total duration of night sleep is important, but also its continuous duration. Thus, data from the World Health Organization suggests that it is more beneficial to sleep 6 hours in a row than to wake up for 8 hours. The following fact is interesting - scientists say that women need to sleep at least 8 hours, while a man needs 7 hours for healthy sleep. This is associated with the increased emotionality of women.

In order for healthy sleep and a person’s biorhythms not to be disturbed, it is necessary to go to bed at the same time, no matter whether it is a working day or a weekend. For healthy sleep you need to create suitable conditions, in particular, a suitable temperature in the room and the absence electric light in it. In addition, there is the so-called law of three eights, according to which healthy sleep should last 8 hours, the length of the working day should be 8 hours, and rest, accordingly, should also be 8 hours.

Thus, systematic disturbances in sleep duration will not have the best effect on a person’s well-being and performance. It is unacceptable to get enough sleep on weekends, increasing the duration of sleep by several hours. After all, the regime is important. Studies have shown that the lack of healthy, full sleep reduces immunity, impairs memory and attention, and leads to cardiovascular diseases, chronic headaches, obesity and depression.

With all this, we must not forget about individual characteristics the body of every person. After all, if one person needs 8 hours to recover, then 4-5 is enough for another. Therefore, it is, of course, advisable to follow the recommendations, but if you adhere to individual treatment your well-being and health do not suffer - then why not continue to live in the same way?