A rigorous examination by 18 sleep scientists and researchers, convened by the National Sleep Foundation, concluded that if you’re between the ages of 26 and 64, you need between seven and nine hours of sleep per night.
Where you fall on that spectrum may vary, depending on your age, but if you’re regularly clocking less than seven hours, you’re part of the large and unenviable club of the sleep-deprived. It’s not quite the Walking Dead, but at least the Walking Impaired.
According to the National Institutes of Health, the average adult today sleeps less than seven hours per night. If you think six hours sounds solid, think again. You might be able to get by on six, but you’re definitely not running in optimal functioning mode. Sleep deprivation impacts mental acuity, productivity, mood, energy, coordination and even weight. In fact, sleep deprivation impairs your judgment and functioning just as much as being drunk. And it’s a whole lot less fun.
Being sleep deprived for long stretches can cause serious health problems, including diabetes and heart disease, and can even lead to untimely death. It’s become such an epidemic that a lot of us have forgotten what it feels like to be really rested. (Friendly reminder: Being well-rested means day-long energy and alertness, even during those endless afternoon meetings.)
The only exception is a small subset of people who can thrive on six hours a night, but University of California researchers discovered there’s actually a gene for that, and it is very, very rare — occurring in just three percent of the population. The other 97 percent of us need to make it a priority to get more, and better, rest.
Can I pay back my sleep debt by sleeping in on weekends?
Maybe you collapse from sheer exhaustion and sleep later and longer on Saturday and Sunday. But those few extra hours won’t make up for a chronic deficit during the week. Sleeping in also comes with the added risk of delaying bedtime Sunday night, and kicking off your work week tired. Not an auspicious beginning.
Do we need those seven to nine hours in one straight shot?
Historical evidence suggests that humans didn’t always get all our rest in one long stretch (called monophasic sleep). Our pre-industrial-age ancestors, it is believed, slept in two distinct, approximately four-hour chunks, with a significant period of wakeful activity — usually one or two hours — in between. This is called polyphasic sleep, and in a variety of cultures, historians have found references to “first sleep” and “second sleep.”
During the wakeful period, people ate meals, visited neighbors, smoked, prayed, read and got busy. Some of history’s most innovative thinkers, like Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and Buckminster Fuller are said to have been polyphasic sleepers. Some scientists still argue it’s our natural state.
The upshot? Mid-afternoon naps are one way to make up for a loss of sleep, but only if you don’t have chronic insomnia or a sleep disorder. You’ll also need the right kind of boss and workspace.
A better solution: Reboot your sleep habits to get the rest you need.