The National SLEEP Foundation guidelines1 suggest that healthy adults should get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night. Infants, young children, and adolescents need even more sleep to support their growth and development. People over the age of 65 should also aim for 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Future studies should explore the relationship between sleep duration and a wide range of health outcomes to better inform contemporary sleep recommendations. International normative data can provide insight into the normal distribution of sleep duration in the population, but it does not identify the amount of sleep associated with health benefits.
Sleep duration is also defined as the amount of time needed to be fully awake (i.e. not sleep deprived) and able to maintain normal levels of performance during the day. Public health recommendations on sleep duration serve as a guideline, but advice at the individual level (e.g. in the clinic) should be tailored to each person's needs. Consumers are increasingly using fitness trackers and smartphone apps to track their sleep.
For children, getting the recommended amount of sleep on a regular basis is linked to better health, including improved attention, behaviour, learning, memory, emotional control, quality of life, and mental and physical health. However, chronic sleep deprivation is not recommended and can have negative effects on health and safety. Public health recommendations on sleep duration are useful for providing guidance from a population perspective, while advice at the individual level should be personalized.
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