Our Sleep Expert Takeaways:

• Sleep needs vary by age and individual biology, but most adults need about 7 to 9 hours per night, while children and teens require more sleep to support growth, learning and development. 

• Consistent bedtime habits, like limiting screens, avoiding caffeine late in the day and winding down before bed, along with a bedtime window that matches when you naturally start to feel tired, can lead to better, more restful sleep. 

We’ve all experienced the benefits of good sleep before. You know that feeling when you wake up in the morning feeling refreshed, relaxed and restored? Now think back to how much sleep that was—was it 6 hours, 7 or 8? There is no single “right” answer because the optimal amount of sleep varies from person to person. Age, environmental factors, daily sleep habits and individual needs, from activity level to overall health, can all impact how many hours of sleep you need.

The science-backed facts about sleep and how much you need each night:

• For the average adult, you go through about 4 to 6 sleep cycles a night. To get through these cycles, you’ll need about 7 to 9 hours of sleep.   
• Sleep guidelines are based on public health recommendations, which means you could need more or less to feel restored.   
• Let your body sleep and awaken without alarms for 10 to 14 days to find out how many hours you naturally need.   
• Be careful not to overestimate sleep. Time spent in bed while awake shouldn’t count toward your total hours.
• Infants and children need their caregiver’s help to establish a healthy sleep schedule. Kids will also benefit from a 30-minute wind-down routine before bed.   

Keep reading for experts’ top tips to help you obtain an optimal amount of quality sleep. Hint: It starts with not obsessing over getting the recommended “normal” number of hours.

How Much Sleep Do You Need by Age and What Is the Best Bedtime?

Before we dive into tips, it’s good to start with a baseline. According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults between 25 and 64 years of age need an average of 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. Adults 65 and older need 7 to 8 hours per night. This is based on public health recommendations, but internal and external factors may change the number of hours you need.

Kids, in particular, need the most sleep to promote growth and development, but even so, the amount of sleep children need varies, depending on their age, family schedules and individual temperament.

Recommended* sleep by age:

• Newborn (0–3 months): 14–17 hours per day; no set bedtime
• Infant (4–11 months): 12–15 hours per day; bedtime around 6–7 p.m.
• Toddler (1–2 years): 11–14 hours per day; bedtime around 7–7:30 p.m.
• Preschool (3–5 years): 10–13 hours per day; bedtime around 7–8 p.m.
• School-age (6–13 years): 9–11 hours per day; bedtime around 8–9:30 p.m.
• Teen (14–17 years): 8–10 hours per day; bedtime around 9–10:30 p.m.
• Young adult (18–25 years): 7–9 hours per day; bedtime between 8 p.m.–12 a.m.
• Adult (26–64 years): 7–9 hours per day; bedtime between 8 p.m.–12 a.m.
• Older adult (65+ years): 7–8 hours per day; bedtime between 8 p.m.–12 a.m.

*Per National Sleep Foundation guidelines

While determining your bedtime, consider sleep hygiene rules such as:

• Limiting screentime one hour before bed  
• Avoiding caffeine 6 to 8 hours before bed   
• Having a 30-minute bedtime routine to fully wind down and relax  

Why Does Sleep Duration Matter for Your Health?

Getting enough quality sleep is critical for physical, mental and emotional health across all ages and stages of life. According to a Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine study, “Healthy sleep is important for cognitive functioning, mood, mental health and cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and metabolic health. Adequate quantity and quality of sleep also play a role in reducing the risk of accidents and injuries caused by sleepiness and fatigue, including workplace accidents and motor vehicle crashes.”

How Does the Amount of Sleep You Get Help With Your Sleep Quality?

Dr. Abhinav Singh, the medical director of the Indiana Sleep Center and clinical assistant professor at Marian University, explains that two kinds of sleep take place during the night, and you need to experience both for optimal rest. “Adults typically go through 4 to 6 sleep cycles a night,” explains Singh. “This adds up to roughly 7 to 9 hours of sleep to accommodate the range.”

The two types of sleep are:

• Non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM): NREM sleep consists of sleep stages 1 to 3, which are governed by homeostasis. Stages 1 and 2 are “light” stages because it’s easier to wake up during these stages. Most of your night will be in stage 2. Stage 3, also known as deep or slow wave sleep, is when the body takes care of housekeeping, including muscle repair, growth hormone release, brain toxin cleansing and some types of memory functions.  
• Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep: REM sleep, also known as dream sleep, is governed by your circadian rhythms. This is the time your brain uses to sort through memories, emotions and general comprehension. The amount of time you spend in REM during each sleep cycle increases over the course of your sleep, with the most REM occurring just before you awaken. 

While certain stages are considered lighter or deeper, you can still be awoken from each.

Be Careful of Overestimating How Much Sleep You’re Getting

If you tend to toss and turn before sleep, be mindful of how much time it takes to sleep when you’re actually in bed. Overestimating sleep by counting time in bed when you’re not actually asleep could lead to a chronic lack of sleep, which has been linked to health issues such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, obesity and depression.

“[Many] think they’re getting 45 minutes to an hour more of sleep [than they actually are],” Singh says. “It takes 20 minutes after your eyes shut to get into restful, restorative sleep.” That time could take even longer, however, if you do other activities in bed like reading or scrolling on your phone.

One way to know for sure is to write down your bedtime and wake-up time each day, and to note whether it took you a while to drift off. If you’re not a sleep diary person and like your tracking automated, using a sleep tracker can help you figure out what time you’ve been going to bed. “[Sleep trackers] may be slightly better at estimating quantity rather than quality,” Singh says. The best sleep tracker is your own body; how you feel can tell you about your sleep last night.

Do Circadian Rhythms Affect How Long You Sleep?

Have you ever gotten 8 or 9 hours of sleep and woken up feeling unrefreshed? When this happens, it indicates that the quality of sleep was insufficient, says Singh. He says that a variety of intrinsic factors can disrupt sleep, including a partner’s snoring, restless limbs, insomnia or sleeping in an environment that’s too hot or too cold, has too much light or is prone to noise.

1. Figure Out Your Natural Sleep Number

Instead of stressing about getting 8 hours of sleep, let your body drive your sleep number. Singh cites an approach developed by his colleague Dr. Charles Joonghie Bae, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Let your body naturally fall asleep and wake up and see where the number lands. At the end of 10 to 14 days of alarm-free sleep, you will know your natural sleep needs,” he says.

Some ways to track and discover your sleep number include using a sleep diary. Or for an automated approach, try a fitness- or app-based sleep tracker. Be wary of sleep debt, or the need to catch up on lost sleep, which can influence how much sleep you need at first.

2. Follow Your Natural Circadian Rhythm

One way to stop fighting fatigue is to learn your body’s circadian rhythm. First, consider when you start to feel tired or relaxed. Adjusting your sleep schedule to your natural sleep-wake cycle will help you transition from falling asleep to being asleep much more easily.

Light is a particularly powerful zeitgeber for setting your sleep-wake cycle. As the sun sets and the world gets dark, your body increases production of melatonin, a sleep-promoting hormone.

“As the light fades, your sleep drive tends to rise,” says Singh. “As the light brightens, your sleep drive is repressed and your wake drives are elevated.”

Turning off devices to avoid blue lights or switching bulbs to emit warm tones will also support your natural sleep-wake cycle.

3. Choose Your Bedtime, Based on Your Cycle

Now you know how many hours your body likes to sleep and around what time you start getting tired and want to relax. Take those numbers, determine what time you need to wake up, and work backwards from there. Singh says that an ideal bedtime range for adults is between 8 p.m. and midnight, though he acknowledges that individuals must consider their social and work responsibilities and intrinsic preferences, such as being a night owl versus a morning person.

Let’s say that you need to wake up by 6 a.m. and that you need 8 hours of sleep. Your bedtime, that is, the time you need to fall asleep by, would be 10 p.m. However, it’s unlikely that you’ll fall asleep right away, so you factor in the 20 to 30 minutes it takes to settle in bed, which means: If you need 8 hours of sleep and need to be up by 6 a.m., you want to be in bed by 9:30 p.m.

Is There a Link Between Sleep and Mental Health?

Yes, sleep impacts all facets of health and well-being, including mental health. Each stage of sleep impacts brain activity, and getting enough sleep, especially REM sleep, facilitates the way our brains process emotional information and consolidate positive thoughts and memories—this in turn influences mood and emotional regulation and can lead to or be a symptom of mental health issues.

“It’s a very co-bidirectional process. We know that—and this is across all ages—disrupted sleep or insomnia can be a symptom of [psychiatric conditions], something like depression or PTSD, but also poor sleep, disrupted sleep, lack of sleep can worsen mental health conditions,” says Dr. Michelle Drerup, Psy.D., DBSM, licensed psychologist and director of education and behavioral sleep medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Sleep Disorders Center.

Mental illnesses connected to poor sleep can present as either insomnia, when a person has difficulty falling or staying asleep, or hypersomnia, where one sleeps too much throughout the day. Depression—which impacts about 16.1 million American adults—is frequently cited as the most common mental health disorder that disrupts sleep. And a recent study showed that ongoing sleep deprivation lowers your stress tolerance and increases your risk of depression.

On the flip side, good sleep offers positive mental health benefits such as higher levels of creativity, better emotional regulation and improved judgment and decision-making.

How Can You Develop Healthy Sleep Patterns for Newborns and Infants?

Newborns and infants need a tremendous amount of sleep to promote optimal health. According to the National Sleep Foundation, newborns (0 to 3 months) need 14 to 17 hours of sleep and infants (4 months to 11 months) should sleep 12 to 15 hours per 24 hours (including naps).

But determining their ideal sleep schedule—including overnight sleep and daytime naps—can be challenging to navigate. One way to figure out their optimal sleep schedule is to pay attention to wake windows. Wake windows are the amount of time that babies and toddlers can stay awake between naps. Wake windows vary by age because the length of awake time and the amount of stimulation they can process increase as they get older. “They are as short as 45 minutes when a baby is first born, increase to 2 to 2.5 hours by 6 months old, 3 to 4 hours by 12 months old and 6-plus hours at 2 years old,” she says. Rosalee Lahaie Hera, CEO, certified sleep consultant and founder of Baby Sleep Love.

Once you know your baby’s age-appropriate wake window, consider the number of daily naps they need based on age. From there, you can determine the best nap times and bedtimes for your child.

In our Why Wake Windows Are the Key to Better Sleep for Your Baby guide, Lahaie Hera offers the following suggestions for the number of daily naps needed based on your child’s age:

• Newborn to 3-4 months: 5+ naps 
• 4-5 months: 3 to 4 naps 
• 5-9 months: 3 naps 
• 9-12 months: 2 to 3 naps per day 
• 12-18 months: 2 naps 
• 18 months to 3 years: 1 to 2 naps 
• 2.5 to 5 years: transition from 1 nap to no naps 

You can incorporate a modified version of the bedtime routine into a relaxing pre-nap routine (ideally before they start showing signs of tiredness), too. Create a baseline bedtime routine for newborns and infants around the 4B’s of Bedtime:

• bathing (bath time or a face wipe) 
• brushing (brushing teeth as appropriate) 
• books (reading by low, soft light) 
• bed (getting your child comfortably and safely tucked in) 

How Does Healthy Sleep Support Growth and Development in Children and Teens?

Different age groups have different sleep needs. According to the National Sleep Foundation, children (6 to 13 years of age) need 9 to 11 hours of sleep per 24 hours, and teenagers (14 to 17 years of age) need 8 to 10 hours of sleep.

Optimal Bedtimes for Kids To Get Enough Sleep

“Newborns don’t really have well-organized sleep with a true bedtime until the 4- to 6-month mark,” says Lynelle Schneeberg, Psy.D., a pediatric sleep psychologist and author of “Become Your Child's Sleep Coach.”

“From the 4-to-6-month mark until the first birthday, most [experts] recommend a bedtime of 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. For toddlers, the bedtime could move a bit later, 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.,” she notes.

Parents will need to factor in time for their child’s bedtime routine, about 15 to 30 minutes for babies 6 months and up and toddlers, depending on whether it is a bath night, Schneeberg says. Even if the child has historically taken longer to settle, Schneeberg recommends capping the routine at 30 minutes. “If the routines are too long or complicated, kids are more likely to stall and try to add things to the routine.”

For school-age children, Schneeberg recommends a bedtime between 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.; for teens, a 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. range is ideal.

Sleep and Physical Health in Teenagers

Good sleep has a huge impact on growth, particularly for teenagers. “The endocrine system and sleep are closely involved,” says Dr. Abhishek Reddy, a physician at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, VA, who specializes in child and adolescent psychiatry and sleep medicine. “Different hormones have night and day circadian rhythms; some growth hormones are secreted when you sleep more.”

Sleep also impacts immune functions and different body systems. Reddy shares that poor sleep for long durations can affect the proper functioning of the immune system, cause strain on the heart and disrupt the gastrointestinal system, creating problems such as acid reflux. Good sleep is also crucial for mental health among teenagers. “Good sleep helps with depression and anxiety in the same way that poor sleep can worsen depression, anxiety and even ADHD,” Reddy says. “Sleep and mental health go hand in hand.” It’s one reason why it’s so important to maintain kids’ bedtime routines during summer months when school is out of session.

One frequently asked question Reddy fields from parents is: Are afternoon naps okay for teenagers? He says that a brief nap of about 30 minutes is okay, but if it’s more than an hour, it will decrease sleep pressure (and the same holds true for adults too).

Cognitive Functioning and Emotional Regulation in Teens

The most important impact of sleep on teenagers is related to memory and emotional regulation, Reddy says. He explains that poor sleep can have a host of negative effects, including poor school performance due to poor memory, impulsivity and poor decision-making, increased irritability and worsening of autism symptoms. “Deep sleep helps with homeostasis and connections, which help with present-time memory. Both of these, in connection, help you have good memory, Reddy says. “Sleep also helps with good decision-making. With teenagers, their frontal lobe is still developing, and it needs rest to process all the information coming in throughout the day. Without processing because of poor sleep, the filter can get kind of off. You can become more impulsive to make decisions and say or do things that you did not mean.”

How Can Adults Balance Sleep With Daily Demands?

One of the most important ways to balance daily demands with rest is to make sleep and rest a priority. Set yourself up for bedtime success by having set times for going to bed and waking up each day, taking short breaks throughout the day, having consistent mealtimes and eating mindfully, and reducing caffeine, nicotine products, alcohol and screen time before bed. Play and movement are also important for balancing rest and daily demands, including making time for exercise, hobbies and social interaction.

Don’t Forget Wind-Down Time

Kids aren’t the only ones who benefit from a bedtime routine. Build in time to wind down for bed before your actual bedtime to help signal to your brain that it’s time to get ready for sleep.

Singh suggests what he’s dubbed the 4-Play Method: shower, journal, read and breathe. “That becomes the routine, so like a Pavlovian dog, it teaches the brain that this spells sleep,” Singh says.

1. Shower or bath: This helps rev up your body temperature; as the skin dilates and loses heat, melatonin rises.  
2. Journal: Jot down your to-do list or thoughts, then put it away.   
3. Read: Spend 10 to 15 minutes listening to or reading an article or book.  
4. Breathe: Do a little bit of relaxed breathing with yoga or listen to a meditation.  

If your bedtime was 9:30 p.m., after adding another 30 minutes for a wind-down routine, this means you’d want to start the process of getting to sleep by 9 p.m.

Of course, if you work from home or don’t have other morning commitments such as getting kids ready for school, you may be able to shift your bedtime routine later. If you are a morning person, Singh’s tip is to try to sleep before midnight. Sleeping before midnight, for most morning people, allows for adequate amounts of both non-REM and REM sleep in their natural circadian rhythm.

What Sleep Changes Can Older Adults Expect With Age?

As we age, the way we go through the different stages of sleep throughout the night changes. A good night’s sleep is typically made up of 4 to 6 sleep cycles, each lasting 90 to 110 minutes. Each cycle contains four phases. The first three phases are known as non-REM, so they are labeled NREM1, NREM2 and NREM3. Then, we finally slip into REM, aka dream sleep.

“With typical aging, there’s a pretty consistent pattern, so generally, with aging, individuals get less slow-wave, or we also call that deep sleep or non-REM stage 3 sleep; they get more light sleep or non-REM stage 1, stage 2 sleep,” Drerup says. Some of the factors that contribute to older adults getting less restorative sleep include pain, arthritis, needing the bathroom more frequently during the night or disruptions from sleep partners, like snoring. Getting less restorative sleep also increases the risk for sleep disorders like sleep apnea or periodic limb movements, both of which can further disrupt sleep.

Another common issue with aging is how circadian rhythms are influenced by the timing of our sleep. “Older adults commonly will develop an earlier circadian timing, so they get sleepy earlier and have an earlier wake time. So, they have a weaker circadian signal—oftentimes that will contribute to the earlier bedtimes and wake times.” In addition, Drerup says that melatonin rhythms are less robust with aging and that older adults have weaker responses to light, both of which help regulate sleep.

Sleep Apnea and Insomnia in Older Adults

With aging, insomnia rates also increase. Drerup explains that a common situation she sees with older adult patients is that when they retire, they can actually have more problems sleeping because they lack a consistent routine and their activity levels decrease. Other external daytime cues or zeitgebers like light exposure, social interaction and exercise can also impact sleep/wake rhythms. “Sun is the cue to readjust your internal clock, your circadian rhythm and your hypothalamus,” says Dr. Sameh Aziz, a pulmonary and critical care medicine physician for Carilion Clinic. And while there isn’t a standardized range for hours of sunlight per day, Aziz shares that he believes older adults “need 4 to 5 hours of sun exposure during the day; it definitely would vary based on their living situation and is going to vary by season as well. With daylight saving time, you have very limited exposure to light.”

To help get to the root cause of insomnia in older adult populations, Aziz recommends starting by evaluating sleep hygiene. He recommends having a fixed time to go to sleep and to wake up, staying active with social interaction and exercise and optimizing one’s sleep environment. That means ensuring an optimal temperature, a comfortable and supportive mattress and comfortable pillows. He also recommends minimizing exposure to screens, caffeine, alcohol and tobacco before bed. If you’re taking medication, check with your doctor to ensure that you’re taking the proper dose and discuss any side effects that may negatively affect sleep.

Napping in Older Adults

Napping during the day can be beneficial, as long as naps don’t take away from nighttime sleep, Drerup says. “Sometimes people get days and nights switched because they’re sleeping a lot during the daytime because of a lack of social engagement or schedule, and then they won’t need sleep at night,” she says. Drerup recommends taking a 20-minute power nap, or if a longer nap is warranted, aiming for at least 60 to 90 minutes so that you get a full sleep cycle. Anything within that range can make you feel sleepy or groggy because you’re waking from stage 3 sleep. If napping does start to impact sleep duration and sleep quality during the night, it might be time to reset by either decreasing the length of naps or cutting one out and increasing activity to help drive sleep pressure for nighttime sleep.

Cognitive Decline in Older Adults

The biggest concern for older adults is that poor sleep is associated with impaired cognition, including difficulty focusing, concentrating or accessing short-term memory. “There are some studies suggesting higher risks of dementia and higher mortality risks,” Drerup says. “It’s very complex because it’s not necessarily causality, and it’s often bi-directional. Poor sleep can potentially contribute to cognitive issues. But also, poor sleep can be an early marker of disease.” One study published by the National Institutes of Health found that lack of sleep in middle age may increase dementia risk. The study’s findings suggest that “people who slept 6 hours or less per night in their 50s and 60s were more likely to develop dementia later in life” and that “inadequate sleep duration could increase dementia risk and emphasize the importance of good sleep habits.”

Seniors’ Sleep and Mental Health

Poor sleep can also negatively affect mental health and emotional regulation in older populations. “Because they’re having poor sleep, they’re always depressed, and they also have underlying irritability and anxiety,” Aziz says. In addition, if older adults feel fatigued, they may be more likely to socially isolate—either because they feel unsafe leaving the house or because they need to catch up on sleep—which can contribute to depression.