How Much Sleep Do You Need?

When the question of how much sleep we need arises, the standard answer given by most health professionals is eight hours. In fact, question a layperson about how many hours are ideal, and odds are that they too will say eight. Most people treat eight hours of sleep a night as a benchmark to perform at their best the next morning. However, while eight hours of sleep may be the most salient number used, it’s been long disputed by researchers and experts. According to the National Sleep Foundation, there isn’t a typical number that fulfills every person’s needs. The amount of sleep a person needs depends on multiple lifestyle factors, including work hours and stress.

The American Psychological Association reports that 60 percent of American adults report having sleep-related problems a few nights a week, and more than 40 percent adults experience daytime sleepiness that interferes with their daily activities. It’s clear that most people are not getting the adequate amount of sleep needed to help them perform optimally.

So, how do you determine how much sleep you need to perform optimally, and how do you get it? Before delving into this question, let’s look at why we need sleep. According to a BBC article, sleep is essential for brain development and helps us maintain the normal level cognitive skills like memory, speech and flexible thinking. Furthermore, according to the Harvard Healthy Sleep website, sleep serves to restore and rejuvenate what is lost in the body while we are partaking in daytime activities. During sleep the body is revitalized by muscle growth, tissue repair and growth hormone release.

To help you understand what the ideal quantity and quality of sleep is for you, we’ve shared a video below where Sadhguru explains why sleep is needed and how you don’t need to sleep 8-10 hours a night to be your best self:

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