How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?

Have you been waking up foggy and tired lately? You have an important upcoming deadline but can’t focus. You’ve been told it’s important to get enough sleep, but what does that really mean?

Keep reading to uncover how much sleep you should be getting, how sleep loss can affect you, and how to tell if you’re getting too little shuteye.

How much sleep should you be getting (by age)?

According to the National Sleep Foundation, here’s how much sleep you should get per day based on your age: 

The amount of sleep you need changes as you get older. You may need more or less sleep based on factors like your:

• Overall health

• Underlying sleep disorders

• Medications

• Lifestyle

• Genes

For example, you may naturally wake up feeling refreshed and well rested after 7 hours of sleep. However, your spouse may regularly need 9 hours of sleep to function best. 

Besides getting the right quantity of sleep, your body also needs quality sleep. While there isn’t a sure way to measure it, you can usually define your sleep quality by how you feel the next day. 

When you wake up energized and ready to tackle the day ahead, it’s likely because you had enough quality sleep. Factors that can affect the quality of your sleep include:

• Sleep environment

• Stress

• Alcohol consumption

• Caffeine intake

• Health issues    

Researchers have also found that some people are genetically short sleepers. They can thrive on less than 7 hours of sleep, but it is very rare.      

Why is sleep good for your body?

Just like you need to eat and drink to survive, adequate sleep is a basic need to sustain life. Scientists are working to better understand why sleep is necessary. Still, they know that sleep is essential to: 

• Give you rest and preserve your energy

• Help with tissue repair and boost your immune system

• Improve your emotional health and mood

• Support memory function by allowing your brain to process information

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When you’re sleeping, your brain moves between non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. These two types of sleep occur in stages that repeat multiple times throughout the night. As you efficiently cycle through these stages, your body undergoes critical processes to restore itself and recover. 

What long-term health conditions might arise from not getting enough sleep regularly?

You may have nights when you don’t get enough sleep. When this happens occasionally, your health usually won’t be affected. But when sleep loss occurs repeatedly, you may be at a higher risk of developing long-term health conditions like: 

• Diabetes

• Heart disease

• High blood pressure

• Stroke

• Weak immune system

Studies have shown that people who regularly sleep 5 hours or less have an increased risk of dying early compared to people who sleep 7 hours. Inadequate sleep may also negatively affect your mood, causing you to be more irritable. 

Chronic sleep deficiency is also associated with:

• Anxiety

• Depression

• Higher stress levels

• Increased alcohol use 

Driving while sleep-deprived can put you and others at risk. Lack of sleep decreases your judgment and reaction time to potentially dangerous situations on the road. This may lead to accidents and even death. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that, in 2020, driver fatigue caused 633 deaths. 

What are signs that you’re not getting enough sleep?

If you’re still unsure about your sleep needs, here are seven signs that you may not be getting enough shuteye: 

1. You’re sluggish in the morning. During sleep, you use less energy, and your body conserves the extra power you’re not using. When you don’t get enough sleep, you continue to expend energy throughout the night, causing you to have less reserve for the next day.  

2. You feel depressed and have difficulty concentrating. Sleep deficiency can disrupt the parts of the brain that help you learn and problem solve. Cutting back on sleep may make it harder to concentrate. Long-term inadequate sleep is also linked to depression, decreased alertness, risky behaviors, and poor decision making.    

3. You doze off easily. Losing sleep can lead you to nod off or briefly fall asleep during the day when you’re typically awake. This is called microsleep. You may also experience daytime fatigue and sleepiness, which can harm you and others.

4. You’re forgetful. As you sleep, your brain is busy storing information to form long-term memory. Sleep loss shortens this process and may make you unable to remember past activities clearly.   

5. You have difficulty managing stress and are irritable. Repeated lack of sleep causes your brain to lose its ability to regulate emotions. This can cause you to have an exaggerated emotional response to everyday stress.  

6. You choose high-calorie foods and gain weight. Insufficient sleep may cause an imbalance in the hormones that control your appetite. This can lead you to overeat and gain weight.  

7. You get sick frequently. Deep sleep prompts the body to make cytokines — a protein that helps you sleep and builds your immune system. Undersleeping can disrupt this process and decrease your body’s ability to fight common infections.  

You may boost your sleep by taking steps to improve your sleep hygiene. Talk to your healthcare provider if you’re not getting the sleep you need or have problems sleeping. They may refer you to a sleep specialist who can do tests, like a sleep study, to identify potential sleep disorders and offer treatment options.   

Is too much sleep bad?

It’s not clear how too much sleep can affect health. In one study, people who were long sleepers tended to have higher rates of depression and body mass index (BMI). But there’s no evidence to support that sleeping too long causes either of these issues.

The same study showed that, unlike undersleeping, sleeping too much was not linked with any other long-term health conditions. More studies are being done to better understand the effects of oversleeping.

Sleeping too much — also known as long sleeping — occurs when an adult needs more than 10 hours of sleep per night to feel refreshed. The American Sleep Association defines long sleeping as a rare sleep disorder that affects 2% of all adults.

Long sleep might be genetic. For example, if you’ve always slept longer than your peers since you were a child, you may be a natural long sleeper due to your biological clock.

But if you notice an unusual or sudden need for more sleep or have concerns about sleeping too much, consider talking to your healthcare provider.

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Written by:

Maggie Aime, MSN, RN

Maggie Aime, MSN, RN, brings health topics to life for readers at any stage of life. With over 25 years in healthcare and a passion for education, she creates content that informs, inspires, and empowers.

Edited by:

Renée Fabian, MA

Renée Fabian is the senior pet health editor at GoodRx. She’s worked for nearly 10 years as a journalist and editor across a wide range of health and well-being topics.

Reviewed by:

Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH

Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH, is a medical editor at GoodRx. She is a licensed, board-certified pediatrician with more than a decade of experience in academic medicine.

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