How Much Sleep Do You Need? Normal Range by Age
Updated: 2026-09-25
"How much sleep do you need" is one of the most common sleep questions, and there is an official answer: in 2015 the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and the Sleep Research Society (SRS) issued a joint consensus for adults, and the National Sleep Foundation published separate recommendations across all ages. Below are the exact numbers from both documents and what to do with that range in practice.
How much sleep an adult needs
The official wording of the joint AASM/SRS consensus (2015): adults (ages 18–60) should sleep 7 or more hours per night on a regular basis to promote optimal health. That's not an "ideal" number — it's the lower bound of the recommended range.
The panel did not set a separate "for women" or "for men" target — the recommendation is one number for adults of both sexes. The popular claim that women need more sleep isn't established in this consensus; we assert neither direction without a source.
Sleep duration by age (National Sleep Foundation)
In 2015 the National Sleep Foundation convened a multidisciplinary expert panel and used the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method to set recommended ranges for 9 age groups. Here they are: newborns (0–3 months) — 14–17 hours, infants (4–11 months) — 12–15 hours, toddlers (1–2 years) — 11–14 hours, preschoolers (3–5 years) — 10–13 hours, school-age children (6–13 years) — 9–11 hours, teenagers (14–17 years) — 8–10 hours, young adults and adults (18–64 years) — 7–9 hours, older adults (65+) — 7–8 hours.
Within the adult band (18–64) the document doesn't split the recommendation further by decade — 7–9 hours is the reference for that entire range. The number only shifts at the boundary with older age (65+), where the range drops to 7–8 hours.
What to do with this range
7–9 hours is a range, not a target of exactly 8. Everyone has their own optimum inside it: some people do fine on 7 hours of good quality sleep, others need closer to 9. Use how you feel during the day and the stability of your ring data — HRV and readiness — as the reference, not a fixed number on the alarm clock.
Hours alone are only part of the picture. A consistent bed- and wake-time (weekends included) matters about as much as duration itself: a chronically shifting schedule acts like social jet lag even when the hour count is technically enough. You can check your own chronotype and social jet lag with the free chronotype test.
FAQ
How much sleep do adults need?
Per the joint AASM/SRS consensus (2015), adults aged 18–60 should sleep 7 or more hours per night on a regular basis. That's the lower bound of the normal range, not a strict target of exactly 7.
How much sleep do you need by age?
Per the National Sleep Foundation (2015): newborns 14–17 hours, infants 12–15, toddlers 11–14, preschoolers 10–13, school-age children 9–11, teenagers 8–10, adults 18–64 years 7–9, older adults 65+ 7–8 hours.
How much sleep do women need?
Neither the AASM/SRS consensus nor the National Sleep Foundation recommendations set a separate target for women — the numbers are the same for adults of both sexes (7–9 hours, ages 18–64). The common claim that "women need more sleep" is neither confirmed nor refuted in these sources.
How much sleep do teenagers need?
Per the National Sleep Foundation, teenagers aged 14–17 are recommended 8–10 hours of sleep per night.