Recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult: a joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society
Watson NF, Badr MS, Belenky G, et al. · Sleep 38(6):843–844 · 2015
Key finding
Adults should sleep ≥7 h per night on a regular basis; <7 h is associated with weight gain, diabetes, hypertension, depression and mortality.
Citation
Related guides
Related studies
National Sleep Foundation's sleep time duration recommendations7–9 h recommended for adults 26–64; 7–8 h for 65+.The cumulative cost of additional wakefulnessTwo weeks at 6 h/night produced deficits equal to two nights of total deprivation — while subjects felt only mildly sleepy. You adapt to feeling tired, not to being impaired.Trends in self-reported sleep duration among US adults from 1985 to 2012Population sleep has shortened; the share of adults sleeping ≤6 h rose to ~29%.Sleep duration and all-cause mortalityBoth short (<7 h) and long (>8–9 h) habitual sleep are associated with higher mortality — a U-shaped curve.The effects of sleep extension on the athletic performance of collegiate…Extending sleep to ~10 h improved sprint time, shooting accuracy, reaction time and mood.
Track it, don't guess it
SleepShred turns this research into a 20-second daily habit: log your night, see which of your own behaviours move your sleep, and screen for the disorders nobody diagnoses.
Get SleepShred for iPhoneEducational summary of published research, not medical advice. Screening scores are not diagnoses. If a score is elevated or you feel unwell, talk to a clinician.