Night rest is a vital necessity for every person. People may not sleep for a very long time; after five to seven days, harmful processes begin to occur in the body, which can even cause death. Resting at night is even more important than eating. How many hours should an adult sleep? How to get ready for bed? What are the consequences of lack of sleep? Answers to all these questions can be obtained by reading this article.

Sleep standards with table of age norms of sleep

How much sleep do you need? For each age category people have their own norm. Surely many people know that an adult's nighttime rest is approximately 8 hours a day. Many scientists confirm that children take much longer to get a normal rest, while older people need about 7 hours or less to wake up refreshed. Many studies have been carried out to answer the question: how long does it take for an adult and a child to sleep. Here is a table showing the number of hours of sleep per night for each category of people:

Infants - about 15-16 hours
Children under one year old - 13-14 hours
Children 1-2 years old - 12-13 hours
Children under 5 years old - 10-12 hours
Schoolchildren - 9-11 hours
Boys and girls 14-17 years old - 8-10 hours
Youth 18-25 years old - 8-9 hours
People 26-65 years old - 7-9 hours.
Seniors from 65 years old - 7-8 hours and less.

These are just approximate figures showing what is the standard sleep rate for an adult and for a child. However, in each individual case and each individual person may have their own characteristics of the body that affect sleep time, therefore the above norm may not be indicative for different people... For example, Napoleon slept only 4 hours, and Einstein spent more than 10 hours on night rest every day.

Sleep phases

Exists different phase falling asleep and sleep phases. Each cycle usually takes about an hour and a half. Being in one cycle, a person alternates between the phases of slow and REM sleep... And before diving into deep dream, there is also a falling asleep phase. Each of us has a phase slow sleep takes much longer than fast. Typically, the phase of slow sleep takes about 1.5 hours, while being in the phase of REM sleep, a person spends from 2 to 30 minutes. Thanks to modern technologies Doctors and scientists have divided the night rest of adults into 5 separate phases, in each of which the brain is in a certain state:

Sleepiness phase or phase zero.
Falling asleep phase.
Not very deep sleep when the brain is affected by sigma waves.
and 5. Phases of slow wave sleep, when a person is in the phase of slow wave sleep, he sleeps most soundly, in these two phases are called delta waves. NREM sleep cycles account for approximately 75% of total nighttime rest. In this phase, a person begins to breathe less often, his heartbeat decreases, there is practically no eye movement, the muscles completely relax. It is in the cycle of slow sleep that a person recovers his health, his cells, tissues are rehabilitated, the energy spent during a working day is restored.

Research on how sleep affects humans

Scientists have conducted many different studies on the effect of resting at night on human health and well-being, as a result of these studies, the following conclusions were obtained:

lack of sleep time leads to the fact that a person's memory is impaired and deteriorates. Experiments were carried out with bees, they deliberately violated the rest period, as a result, they began to get lost in space, none of the bees could repeat the flight route that the bees studied the previous day. Therefore, non-observance of the norm of sleep time causes inhibition of the mind, a slowed down reaction and a deterioration in the perception of the surrounding world and various events;
as a result of lack of sleep, appetite increases. Many scientists have confirmed this fact, studies have shown that if you sleep a little, then stress occurs, very similar to that which appears in an overworked or not rested person, and because of stress, people begin to eat more, obesity occurs;
deficit good sleep when normal is not enough, good rest, decreases Creative skills... Often, in a dream, people come to an understanding of any problems or the resolution of difficult life situations... For example, Mendeleev saw in a dream a system of chemical elements;
if you turn on a bright light in the room in the evening, then because of this, the person falls asleep later, the phases of his sleep become shorter, and this often becomes the reason for early awakening.

Scientists have found that lack of sleep causes irritability and stress, and as a result constant stress the person gradually develops depression - dangerous disease, which must be treated.

Sleep deficiency - how does it accumulate?

If a person does not comply age norms sleep and sleeps less than expected, then the body accumulates a sleep deficit, leading to a decrease in performance. If every day during the week there is little sleep, and on weekends you get enough sleep, spending a couple of hours more on rest at night, then your strength will not fully recover. A person will want to sleep, he will be tired and overwhelmed, because the lack of sleep will only decrease by a couple of hours, and will not disappear completely.
An adult must rest 8 hours a day at night, and he sleeps for 6 hours, then every day a lack of sleep accumulates for 2 hours. After 5 days, this deficit will be 10 hours, and this debt must be paid to your body, either immediately or gradually. If you do not compensate for this time, then it is impossible to feel completely rested, vigorous and full of energy.

How to prepare for bed

In many ways, the length of sleep depends on how the person prepares for it. To quickly fall asleep and sleep soundly, you need to adhere to these recommendations:

before going to bed, do not overeat too much. Dinner should be three to four hours before the night's rest. In addition, at night it is better not to eat fatty and very high-calorie foods;
when it's time to sleep, it is advisable to take cold and hot shower, thanks to which you can relieve stress and fatigue that has accumulated over a working day;
no need to watch disturbing news, it is advisable to turn off the TV, computer and Internet at night;
before going to bed, for a while (15-20 minutes) you need to open wide the windows in the bedroom so that it can be ventilated, thanks to the fresh air, you can fall asleep very quickly, sleep soundly and wake up vigorous;
so that there is no shortage of night rest, you need to sleep in a dark and quiet room;
you can fall asleep faster thanks to a relaxing massage of the neck and lumbar, and you can also massage the feet;
it is better to sleep without clothes, naked;
you should not allow yourself to worry or worry in the evening, because anxiety greatly interferes with falling asleep, because of them insomnia develops;
at night you can drink a soothing herbal tea based on valerian, mint, lemon balm and motherwort.

What to eat before bed

Sleep deficiency often results from eating the wrong food at night. During the day, it is necessary to correctly formulate the diet and leave it on evening meal light, low-calorie foods. It is worth remembering that you cannot go to bed hungry, because this can harm your health and this will cause early awakening.
At night, it is advisable to eat such dishes and products that would not burden the stomach and intestines. Nutritionists and doctors advise to eat at night vegetable salads, various seafood, egg dishes, chicken, fermented milk products are also an excellent option.

How much sleep does it take to wake up vigorous

Many people sleep long enough without getting enough sleep. How much sleep to wake up awake? If an adult rests 8 hours at night, he gets enough sleep. But if the rest is interrupted, for example, due to the fact that the alarm went off very early, then most likely the person will be lethargic and tired. The best time for a healthy waking up is fast phase sleep, when a person has dreams.
How much sleep does an adult need? In order to wake up vigorous, and also so that there is no shortage of rest, it is necessary to correctly calculate the rate. You need to focus on 4.5 hours, 6 or 7.5 hours of night rest. That is, for example, if a person went to bed, fell asleep at 11:00 pm, in order to feel cheerful during the day, he needs to wake up either at 3:30 am, or at 5 am, or at 6:30 am. Often, even if you do not set the alarm for this time, the body wakes up on its own during these hours, when it comes to the end of the REM sleep phase.

What does lack of sleep often lead to?

If the duration of a person's sleep is insufficient for a long time, then this will certainly affect health and well-being. Chronic sleep deprivation lead to:

weakened immunity;
the appearance of heart disease;
low efficiency;
an increase in body weight;
chronic insomnia;
frequent depression;
decreased concentration of attention, vision, memory.

When a man sleeps less than the norm, then testosterone is produced in him not enough... Because of this, a man loses stamina and strength, his body fat, prostatitis appears. When a person has little time to rest at night, and during the day it is rarely possible to sleep, then irritability occurs, groundless outbursts of anger, increases arterial pressure, work is disrupted digestive system... Sleep deficiency is a very dangerous problem that leads to disruption of biological rhythms, swelling appears, severe tiredness, as a result, the help of a specialist doctor is needed.

Is prolonged sleep good for you?

Prolonged sleep, when a person sleeps several hours more than the norm, leads to various problems such as:

headaches, back pain;
obesity;
weakness, depression;
cardiovascular disease.

Is it harmful for an adult to sleep a lot? Yes, because because of this, he will be tired all the time, the body's biorhythms will be disrupted. Scientists say that prolonged sleep (9-10 hours per day or more) leads to hormonal disruptions, and even reduces the lifespan!

How to learn to wake up early?

There can be many reasons for waking up early, if you wake up early, then you can have time to do a lot more things. In addition, performance is much better in the morning than in the evening. How to wake up early? Necessary:

do not go to bed too late in the evening, preferably at 22:00, it is possible a little later;
sleep in a room that is neither cold nor hot, the temperature should be about 20-22 degrees;
It is advisable to set the alarm clock at some distance from yourself, which must be overcome in order to turn it off;
ask friends or family to call early;
after waking up early, you need to take a shower, drink coffee, preferably do exercises;
so that early getting up becomes a habit, you need to wake up in the morning at the same time, for 10-15 days.

Do I need to sleep during the day?

Is it good for an adult to sleep during the day? This is directly related to nighttime breakouts. If you go to bed very late, it can be helpful to take a little nap during the day. Daytime rest should be light and not very long, 15-20 minutes is enough for the body to shut down and reboot, but at the same time did not have time to go into the period of slow sleep. Do not sleep during the day longer than this time.
Do I need to sleep during the day? It is necessary, but such rest should be an additional rest. Awakening during the day will be quick and easy, only when the body has not had time to understand that it is asleep. But if a person sleeps in daytime 40 minutes or more, it will be much harder for him to get up, he will be overwhelmed and tired, because the body will have time to go into the phase of slow sleep.
If you can afford to sleep longer during the day, then you need to go through a period slow rest after which you can easily awaken. To get through this phase, you need to sleep about an hour and a half during the day. However, this is not a rule for everyone, because each organism is individual, moreover, the duration of night rest has a significant effect on daytime rest.

How much sleep do you need

Each of us is a unique personality, so each has its own nome of night rest. Everyone needs to determine this norm by trial and error and adhere to it in the future. How much sleep do you need per day? You need to rest at night as much as the body requires in order to wake up sleeping well. The average rate is 2-9 hours a day. However, if you want to sleep more than 12 hours a day, then you need to consult a doctor.
How long does a person need to sleep? There are experts who believe that a person wants to sleep more than is actually necessary, that it is enough to sleep about five hours a day and have great health. But to listen to the opinion of these experts or not is a private matter for everyone. Lack of sleep can negatively affect health and even human life expectancy. Therefore, it is best not to cut back on your night's rest.

We know from childhood Golden Rule that for a full and healthy life a person needs 8 hours to sleep. But is it really so? It turned out that these norms are very outdated, since they were withdrawn by the Ministry of Health already in 1959. The foundations of these norms were taken guidelines for astronauts. The rapid development of cosmonautics in the USSR at that time had a tangible impact on many spheres of life, including ordinary citizens. In fact, the cosmonauts' need for prolonged sleep is due to the peculiarities of the functioning of the brain under conditions of weightlessness. Although for many years these norms were applied to the entire adult population, not having the slightest relation to space.

How many hours does a person need to sleep

Thirty years later, the Moscow Institute of Somnology conducted large-scale studies on how much a person needs to sleep. The results of these studies showed that an adult needs an average of 5.5 to 7 hours of sleep per night to sleep. Long-term observation of those who slept for 9 or more hours a day showed that 87% of such subjects over time developed a number of cardiovascular and neurological diseases... Such subjects complained of headaches, rapid fatigability and a decrease in the general tone of the body. Why does this happen, if for many years it was believed that prolonged sleep is a guarantee of health?

Sleep phases

A dream was given to a person to restore him physical strength and mental activity. During sleep, metabolic processes take place, information is assimilated and "minor repairs" of all body systems are carried out. To figure out how much a person needs to sleep, it is necessary to consider its phases. Alternating, the phases of REM and slow sleep, replace each other according to a certain principle, and each performs its own function. For example, in the phase of slow sleep, metabolic processes in cells and hormonal synthesis occur. In the phase of REM sleep, information is processed and assimilated, the acquired knowledge is systematized and ordered, which helps a person

However, the human brain, like a battery, has a certain "capacity", and "recharging" by sleep too much leads to premature wear and tear. nervous system, causing almost as much harm as sleep deprivation. The fact that inhibition processes begin to predominate in an overloaded sleep brain has an extremely negative effect on all organs and systems. It is also important in what phase of sleep a person wakes up. The average duration of the phase of slow sleep is 2 hours, fast sleep is 20 minutes. Approximately every 2 hours and 20 minutes, you can wake up without stress for the body in REM sleep, since the brain perceives it in approximately the same way as wakefulness. Usually, waking up in REM sleep, a person feels kind and rested.

How many people can sleep

According to average statistics, a person can go without sleep for no more than 4 days. It is four days that are called the critical limit, beyond which irreversible processes begin to develop in the psyche.

In an effort to understand how many people can be without sleep, many decided on desperate experiments. So, in 1986, Robert MacDonald from California set an absolute world record for the time of being awake - 453 hours 40 minutes (almost 19 days). Until now, not a single source has information about what happened to the record holder later, and how such an experiment turned out for him.

Sleepless experiment

Blogger and experimenter Vitaly Popov conducted an experiment on himself in order to establish how many people can stay awake. As a result, Vitaly managed to hold out for 7 days. According to him, in the first two days without sleep, only weakness and slight nausea were felt. On the third day, the connection with reality began to be lost, the border of day and night was blurred. On the fourth day, consciousness began to periodically turn off, and Vitaly began to observe himself, as it were, from the side. On the fifth day, everything alarming symptoms passed, only weakness and nausea remained, which were noted on the first day. On the sixth day, severe hallucinations and obsessions began. Speech is slow, reactions to pain are dull. On the seventh day, it was decided to stop the experiment, because memory lapses developed from lack of sleep, appetite finally disappeared, inhibition processes prevailed, reactions to external stimuli began to fade - they began to fail. According to Vitaly, the exit from the experiment ended in 10 hours of sleep, without any negative consequences as a result. But this is, rather, an individual feature of a single person, since most of such experiments usually end in the development of severe mental disorders.

Sleep is universal medicine for body and soul. But like any medicine, it should be taken carefully and competently. Take plenty of it every day, but don't overuse it. Remember the individual needs and characteristics of each organism and consider yours. This will help you stay in in the best shape and long years support on high level the quality of your life.

Our body is designed in such a way that we have to sleep every day. A person needs sleep like oxygen, water, food. Of the sixty past years, twenty people spend in a dream.

Who needs to sleep how much

1. Depending on the age, the duration of sleep is different.
Newborn babies sleep 20 hours a day
Babies - 16 hours
Preschoolers are supposed to sleep 11 hours
9-10 is enough for schoolchildren
Adults preferably 7-9 hours
2. The duration of sleep depends on the amount of physical and intellectual stress.

Who needs to sleep longer

The higher the physical, intellectual or emotional stress, the longer the night's rest should be.

How much does a woman sleep

Women are supposed to sleep 1-2 hours longer than men because of their higher emotionality. If 7-8 hours is enough for a man and this does not affect his well-being, then women simply need 8-9 hours of sleep for health and opposition.

How much does a teenager sleep

Children during intensive growth need to sleep longer, as they grow due to growth hormone. It is produced in a dream, and its lack can affect not only growth, but also health.

How much to sleep to lose weight

Those who are losing weight need to sleep longer, because fat burning occurs with the participation of the same growth hormone. It is very important not only for children, a growing body, but also for adults, it is the main hormone for strengthening muscles and burning fat. If a person does not devote enough time to sleep, this hormone is not produced in the proper amount, the muscles become flabby, and excess fat appears. Therefore, those who are losing weight are supposed to sleep longer so that growth hormone is produced, and parting with excess fat passed without harm to health. Notice people connected night work, by shifts, most often suffer overweight and obesity. Subscribe to updates so as not to miss the topic of how to ensure yourself complete restful sleep... To do this, enter your e-mail at the very bottom of the page, new article will come to the post office.

How to relax in the middle of the day

Sometimes, it becomes necessary to rest during the day to recuperate. It could be

What time to go to bed?

What time do you need to sleep?

The most valuable time for sleep is from 12 to 2 am.
The next most important time is from 2 to 4 hours.

It is at this time that growth hormone is released. Therefore, in order to lose weight or grow, it is important to go to bed before midnight!

Can't sleep?

Read the article K - Yogi Method 4-7-8.

Good sleep rules

Go to bed and get up at the same time, that is, do not get enough sleep on weekends for the whole week. Night sleep should last 8-9 and be continuous for at least 6 hours. The bedroom should be well ventilated. A comfortable and warm bed. Provide yourself with complete darkness and silence. Do not lie in bed after waking up

Which nations sleep longer

The French set aside 9 hours of sleep. Americans - an average of 8.5 hours. The Japanese spend the least time in bed: an average of 6 hours. It is believed that in Russia the least sleepers are students: they are preparing for exams, then they are walking

Are you sleeping properly? How much rest do you have during sleep? What happens in the body when we sleep? These questions are natural, because a person spends about 24 years of life in a dream! Agree, you need to learn from this maximum benefit- Well, you can't spend 24 years of your life somehow. Scientists conduct numerous studies of sleep, doctors use therapeutic sleep in their work, even traditional healers claim that sleep is health. But speculation is speculation, and in the study of the topic, one can and should rely only on scientific facts.

Oversleeping or not getting enough sleep - which is better

How much sleep do you need to get enough sleep? Almost everyone knows that night sleep should last at least 8 hours - this is what the doctors tell us. Indeed, many of us would agree that only after 8 hours of sleep do they feel refreshed. Better yet, sleep for 9-10 hours ... But the psychiatrist, Professor Daniel Kripke specially conducted research on the duration of sleep and made an interesting conclusion:

People who sleep 6.5 to 7.5 hours a night live longer. They are more productive and happier. And excessive sleep can even be harmful to your health. And you may feel worse after sleeping 8.5 hours than if you slept 5.

Try to experiment on yourself and sleep not 8 hours, but only 7.5 - just listen carefully to your inner state, to your well-being. Kripke claims that the body feels more energetic with this sleep regime, the person is ready to literally "move mountains", and the mood will be excellent.
Are you more likely to settle for 4 hours of sleep a night and consider yourself a hero? You are wrong! Lack of sleep is also bad, as well as overfill. Moreover, it is not known for certain what will affect health more negatively. It's like choosing the size of underwear - each person needs an individual approach. Therefore, you should gently and unobtrusively experiment with your own body - if you sleep 8 or more hours every night, then safely reduce this time by half an hour. Do you feel that 7, 5 hours is enough for a rest? Try reducing your rest time by another half hour. Important:less than 6 hours of sleep a night is harmful. Therefore, when experimenting, do not overdo it - you need to find a "middle ground". Interesting fact- a person who slept for 4 hours will be quite adequate and even attentive enough to be comparable to a person who slept for 7, 5 hours. And even tests / exercises performed on these two people will give the same results. What's the catch? The fact is that even with a complete rash, the human brain periodically loses focus on the task. And this is where the difference between the two people mentioned at the beginning appears - with a full amount of sleep, the brain returns attention, but if there is a lack of sleep, there will be no refocusing. In order not to put pressure on you, readers, in scientific terms, but to convey the idea, you can formulate it like this:

The brain of a person who is not asleep works normally, but from time to time something similar to a power failure in an electrical appliance happens to it.

The quote is from Clifford Minesweeper: a professor at Harvard who is collaborating with a team of other scientists in the study of sleep. Just look at the table below:
As soon as a person loses focus, the processes of its activation automatically begin in the brain - they are indicated in the figure yellow... If a person has not had enough sleep, then such activity is manifested very weakly, or is completely absent. But the so-called "center of fear" begins its work (amygdala - they are highlighted in red on the table) and the brain works in a specific mode - as if a person is in danger from all sides. Physiologically, this is manifested by sweating of the palms, rapid breathing, rumbling and colic in the abdomen, tension individual groups muscles. Important:the danger of sleep deprivation is that a person, losing attention and focus, is unaware of it. He believes that he adequately responds to the prevailing circumstances, his productivity does not suffer. This is why doctors recommend that you stop driving if you are not getting enough sleep.

Research on the effects of sleep on humans

Research into the effects of sleep on humans has led to some startling findings:

Sleep disturbance, namely sleep deprivation, leads to memory impairments. An experiment was carried out with bees - after they were forced to change their usual route of flying around the territory, a violation of rest (bees do not sleep in our understanding of the word) led to a loss in space - not a single representative of these insects could repeat the flight path studied for the day before.
Lack of sleep leads to an increase. This is also confirmed by studies, scientists associate this manifestation of lack of sleep with, which is experienced by an overworked / unrespirated body.
Getting a good night's sleep greatly enhances your creativity. For example, in a dream, unexpected solutions to global problems are dreamed, an understanding / vision of some theories comes to a person - and one does not need to go far for an example: Mendeleev dreamed of a table of chemical elements!
Sleep disturbance can be triggered by increased background lighting in the evening. On this occasion, quite serious research has been carried out. medical center at the University of Chicago. It was found that this fact provokes later going to sleep, reduces the duration of the sleep phase that precedes awakening.

In addition, the amount of time you sleep can affect your dietary habits. An experiment was conducted with children aged 6-7 years: with regular lack of sleep, children began to consume more meat, carbohydrates and fats, practically forgetting about fruits and vegetables. All this happened against the background of the absence of any diet - scientists noted the classic overeating in a group of test children. It has been known for a long time that the lack of adequate sleep negatively affects the neurotransmitters in the brain - they are simply depleted. The result of such an impact can be stress, because it is neuroregulators that are responsible for good mood... It turns out a chain: lack of sleep-irritability-stress. And the consequence of a stressful state can be a dangerous and complex condition that should be subjected to professional treatment.

How to regulate sleep

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To oversleep is harmful, to not get enough sleep is also dangerous. What to do and how to determine how much sleep you specifically need? First, if a person feels constant fatigue and always wants to sleep, this means only one thing - it is necessary to adjust the time daily sleep... And this does not mean that it is necessary to set aside a day, it is banal to get enough sleep, turning off the phone and the doorbell - this will have only a short-term effect. It is necessary to increase the duration of night sleep:

try to go to bed as early as possible;
before going to bed, do not watch TV and do not engage in too active work;
it is advisable to take a short walk on fresh air(no beer and strong coffee!), you can read a book - is this advice too banal? But it is very effective - tested, as they say, over the years.

Second, train your body to rest during the day. Some people desperately need to get at least one and a half hours of sleep in the daytime - they will feel great in the evening and will not experience fatigue. But it would be wiser to gradually accustom yourself to rest during the day for a maximum of 30 minutes - do not be surprised, such a REM sleep is quite enough to restore the normal working capacity of the whole organism. Third, you need to adjust your sleep routine. You need to go to bed and get up at the same time - if this is problematic, then use the alarm clock. And even if it is very difficult to get up at 7 in the morning on a call, do not stay in bed - a couple of minutes of active wakefulness (going to the toilet, hygiene procedures, making coffee and sandwich) enough to wake up. If you do not know how much you need to sleep in time, then pay attention to the data below:

Age / position
Babies	At least 16 hours a day. More often, babies need up to 18 hours of sleep per night.
Preschool age	Children should sleep at least 11 hours a day. It is better if the child devotes an average of 12 hours to sleep.
School age (up to 15 years old)	Schoolchildren should sleep at least 10 hours a day. Taking into account the activity of children and the existing accompanying factors, the duration of sleep can be increased up to 12 hours.
Adolescence	Sleep takes at least 9 hours a day, but no more than 10 hours.
Adults	Sleep should take at least 7 hours per day, ideally you need to sleep 8 hours in a row.
Old men	Daily sleep should last 7-8 hours. But given frequent awakenings and intermittent sleep ( age feature), be sure to rest during the day - at least 1 hour.
Pregnant women at any time	The duration of sleep is 8 hours, during the day you should definitely rest for at least 1 hour, but no more than 2.
Sick	Sleep duration is 8 hours, extra hours of sleep are required.

Of course, the table cannot be perceived as indisputable data - these are just recommendations. But you can "push off" from them when drawing up an individual schedule of sleep and wakefulness. In some cases, the body requires longer sleep than indicated in the table. This may indicate health problems, or simply be a necessity in a particular case. For example, pregnancy, emotional outbursts (exams, competitions, etc.), too large physical exercise- all this is considered the norm, but automatically prolongs the sleep time. Note: if suddenly, without apparent reasons sleep disturbances, fatigue and irritability appear, then you need to see a doctor. Most likely, these signs will indicate health problems. Sleep is unconditional health. Therefore, you should not ignore the emerging problems with falling asleep, interrupted sleep, feeling tired after waking up. And drink medications sedative and sleeping pills it also does not make sense - they should be selected by a specialist, and these medicines will not solve the problem either. Even with small but persistent sleep disturbances, it is necessary to overcome full examination- the reason for this condition may lie in any organ / system. Tsygankova Yana Aleksandrovna, medical columnist, therapist of the highest qualification category.

How much sleep does a person need? It would seem that the answer to the question is obvious - everyone knows that we sleep a third of our lives, i.e. 8 hours a day. However, scientists cannot come to a consensus on this issue in any way. Some of them convince that 8 hours of daily sleep is already a lot, others assure that you can get enough sleep for the body within 4-5 hours, others are sure that there can be no generalizations in this matter - everything is individual for each person ... So how much sleep do you need to get enough sleep and feel refreshed and refreshed during the day?

How much sleep do you need per day?

The average adult needs 6-8 hours of sleep a day to get enough sleep. Many people know the rule of three eights: 8 hours for work, 8 for rest and 8 for sleep. Indeed, the body of most people is tuned precisely for 8 hours of sleep.

However, there are exceptions. Known examples famous people who slept significantly less or, conversely, more. So, Napoleon, who believed that spending a third of his life on sleep is an unaffordable luxury, slept 5 hours a day. And Einstein's genius brain apparently needed a good "recharge" - and he slept for 12 hours. The experience of the outstanding scientist of the Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci is striking - according to legend, he slept every 4 hours for 15 minutes, only an hour and a half a day!

Experiments with sleep

What are the consequences of experimenting with sleep in the form of frequent lack of sleep or, conversely, too long daily sleep?

In most cases, lack of sleep contributes to a decrease in the body's defenses, disruption of the nervous system (irritability, absent-mindedness, deterioration of reaction, memory and attention). Frequent sleep deprivation can lead to hypertension, type 2 diabetes, insomnia, depressive state, gaining excess weight.

Too much sleep is also detrimental to human body... Recent research by scientists has questioned the rule of three eights: it turns out that if you sleep more than 7 hours a day, you can fall into the category of people who are at risk of early death.

In addition, studies have shown that lack of sleep or oversleeping is fraught with the occurrence of suicidal tendencies - most suicides have had trouble sleeping.

Individual approach to sleep

And yet, many researchers agree that a person should definitely listen to the requirements of his body, to his individual biological clock... If you feel cheerful, sleeping only 5 hours a day, or if your head does not have a headache from 12 hours of daily sleep, then your body requires just such a duration.

In addition, sleep can be not only at night, but also during the day - the latter will not only restore strength in the middle of the day, but in a relatively short period of time (20-30 minutes) will replenish the hours that you did not get enough sleep at night. Regular daytime sleep helps to reduce the risk of heart attack, increases performance. The people of Spain are right when they have a daily siesta!

It is also very important to determine for yourself what hours you get the best sleep. It is known that "owls" and "larks" need completely different hours for high-quality, replenishing sleep. Sleeping during the hours your body needs to rest will help you get enough sleep in a fairly short period of time.

Do not forget that the quality of sleep depends not only on its duration, but also on other important factors: the optimal level of temperature and humidity in the room, a comfortable bed, refusal of heavy food, alcohol and nicotine in the evening, positive attitude and complete relaxation before bed.

So, the main criteria in the question of how much you need to sleep per day are the individual characteristics of the body of a person, his ability to recover within a certain period of time, the degree of person’s fatigue per day, factors accompanying sleep. Once you have determined what is the best sleep time for you, you should try to stick to it strictly to avoid health problems.