For many busy adults or adolescents, six hours of sleep is the maximum amount of sleep they can get. Many people feel perfectly fine after only sleeping for six hours at night, while others may feel like they got hardly any sleep at all. So, this brings up the question is 6 hours of sleep enough?
The short answer is no, six hours of sleep is not enough. Technically speaking, for the average adult or adolescent to get a healthy amount of sleep, they need to sleep at least 7 hours per night. In fact, a certain study from the University of California San Diego found that 5 hours is definitely not enough sleep, but 8 hours may be too much sleep. The healthiest range of sleep time falls somewhere between 6.5 and 7.5 hours of sleep, if that can be achieved.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at how much sleep a healthy adult really needs, the consequences of not sleeping enough, and some helpful tips for better sleep. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about healthy sleep and good sleep habits.
Is it Healthy to Get 6 Hours of Sleep?
As we already stated earlier, 6 hours of sleep is not enough sleep for a typical adult to be getting each night. By only sleeping 6 hours per night, you may start to feel irritable or emotional far quicker than you normally would, and your cognitive functions will start to work a bit slower than they usually do.
In fact, a recent study suggests that only 1 in 12,000 people can get 6 hours of sleep or less a night without any negative consequences. So, if you’re one of those people who says that they feel perfectly fine with only 6 hours of sleep night after night, chances are you’re not recognizing the negative side effects it’s having on your health.
How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?
So, how much sleep should you be getting based on your age and stage of development? Let’s take a look.
Infants and newborns require the greatest amount of sleep out of all stages of human development, with a recommended sleep time of 14 to 17 hours per day. It may also be appropriate for them to get only 11 to 13 hours depending on their own unique physiologies.
Toddlers should be getting around 11 to 14 hours of sleep a day, but as little as 9 to 10 hours is still considered to be in the healthy range. It’s important to note for each of these sleep times that some people just need more sleep than others, which is why the low range can still be considered healthy.
Preschoolers should be getting around 10 to 13 hours of sleep, with 8 to 9 hours of sleep at the low end of the healthy sleep range. Older school-aged children should be getting around 9 to 11 hours at most, but 7 to 8 hours of sleep if perfectly healthy in most cases. Less than 7 is not considered a healthy amount of sleep.
Teens should be getting around 8 to 10 hours of sleep, but 7 hours still falls within the healthy sleep range. This increase in sleep comes from the fast growth and physical development that teens go through.
Young adults should be getting around 7 to 9 hours of sleep, but no more than that. 6 hours is deemed appropriate if more sleep is not possible, but less than 6 hours is not healthy.
Adults have a bit of a wider range of healthy hours of sleep, ranging from 6 to 10 hours based on individual need. However, it’s never a good idea to get less than 6 hours of sleep per day if it can be helped. 6 hours, while appropriate for some, is also not healthy for most adults.
Finally, older adults typically need around 7 to 8 hours of sleep per day, but 5 to 6 hours can be appropriate for some. This lower need for sleep is due in part to older adults not needing as much energy for growth and development.
Negative Consequences of Not Sleeping Enough
Next, let’s take a look at all the negative consequences of not getting enough sleep. As a kind of overview, you can expect slower mental functions, lessened ability to cope with emotions like anger, irritation, or depression, and a general feeling of physical fatigue. But what are the specific side effects of getting too little sleep?
The first consequence is impaired mental functions, including the tendency to forget things easily. This is particularly true in your ability to remember new things. You may find it easy to remember what happened yesterday, or to recall a long term memory, but things happening in the moment may soon be forgotten. For example, you may walk into the kitchen and then forget what it was that brought you there, turn around, and walk right back out.
The next part of your mental functions that suffers is your ability to pay attention and focus. Concentration is actually one of the first things to go when you don’t get enough sleep, making it difficult to stay on task at school or work, or to keep your mind from wandering while watching a lecture or attending a board meeting. By extension, the longer you’re awake, the greater the loss in concentration becomes.
You’ll also notice that your willpower diminishes greatly. This means that certain vices or desires you may have, like eating a candy bar that goes against your diet, become all the easier to indulge in. This also extends to more harmful behaviors fueled by addiction, such as smoking or heavy drinking. You’ll find it much more difficult to resist such temptations when low on sleep.
And as we mentioned briefly before, your control over your own emotions will slip. You’ll be prone to mood swings, be more easily angered, or become irritated far easier. In some people, the effect may be opposite. They may be hyperactive and excitable, more so than usual. Whatever side you fall on, you won’t have as much control over your emotions if you don’t get enough sleep.
Tips For Better Sleep
Lucky for you, we’ve outlined some helpful tips for better sleeping below. By following these tips and tricks, you’ll soon find sleeping is so much easier, as these tips have been proven to be effective for many who struggle with sleeping at night.
Set a Sleep Schedule
Setting a sleep schedule is essential to getting consistent, deep sleep. It will also help you to be able to fall asleep faster because your body will be subconsciously expecting to fall asleep at around the same time every night. If you have a varied and sporadic sleep schedule, then your body may not be ready to fall asleep some nights.
For example, if you tend to go to bed at around midnight sometimes, but then want to go to bed earlier because you have to get up early for work, your body will not be expecting to go to sleep until around midnight and it will be harder to fall asleep.
Listen to Relaxing Music
Relaxing music can be a great asset when trying to fall asleep quickly. This type of music has calming and relaxing effects on the body, and it gives your mind something to focus on so that it’s not running loose thinking about your day. Relaxing music can also become comforting when your mind gets used to it, instilling a sense of calm and familiarity in you as you fall asleep.
On top of all those benefits, it’ll tell your mind that it’s time to sleep when you hear the same kind of relaxing music every night. This is one trick that is sure to help, especially if you have an overactive mind when trying to fall asleep.
Another sound that can help put your mind at ease when trying to fall asleep is white noise. White noise is any background noise that drowns out other noises and that your mind can get used to without noticing it constantly. Some examples of white noise people often like to have when sleeping is a running fan, a sleep sound machine, or a multi sound machine.
Get Comfortable
It’s going to be very difficult to fall asleep if you’re not comfortable. There are a few main contributing factors to your level of comfort when trying to sleep, which include your mattress, pillows, and blankets.
For a great comfortable mattress that’s sure to help you fall asleep fast, try the Puffy Mattress. With unique material composition and technology, you’ll never sleep better. Their catchphrase is “Like sleeping on a cloud,” and we can definitely agree!
A Spine Align pillow is another great addition to your sleep set up, offering back and side sleepers a perfectly ergonomic pillow that is specifically designed to support your head and neck in its most natural position.
And finally, top it all off with the Chilisleep Weighted Blanket. Weighted blankets are great for giving you a cozy, safe feeling when you’re falling asleep, and this one comes with body temp regulation too!
Avoid Caffeine Up To 6 Hours Before Sleep
As we mentioned earlier, you should avoid ingesting all forms of caffeine prior to going to bed. You should avoid caffeine altogether for up to six hours before you sleep, as the effects of caffeine will keep your body from being able to relax and wind down.
If you’d like some alternatives to caffeinated drinks such as coffee, soda, or teas, here are a few different options you can try that will help you sleep instead of preventing you from sleeping. You can try drinking herbal teas made of any of the following herbs or flowers: chamomile, valerian root, lavender, lemon balm, passionflower, or magnolia bark.
Turn Off All Electronics
It’s been proven by researchers that using electronics just before you fall asleep can wire your brain to stay awake, making it harder to fall asleep fast. Many people in the modern age may be using their smart phones, watching TV, or playing video games just before bed, which will make it harder for them to fall asleep.
Besides simply turning off all electronics a few minutes before you sleep, you can also use blue light glasses to reduce the effects of screens on your eyes and your brain. Blue light soothes and relaxes, as opposed to typical white light which often has the opposite effect.
Exercise During the Day
Getting a regular amount of exercise every day is a good idea for your general health, but it’s also great for helping you to fall asleep fast at night. If you set aside a few minutes of rigorous exercise per day, your body will feel more tired at night, and you’ll have an easier time falling asleep.
Practice Reducing Your Stress
As you may have guessed by now, stress is one of the biggest factors that can make it difficult for people to fall asleep quickly and to have a restful sleep. So naturally, neutralizing stress is one way to increase your ability to sleep better. It takes some practice, but there are a bunch of ways you can work to reduce your stress, such as doing yoga, performing breathing exercises, meditating, or exercising every day.
Final Thoughts
We know, with busy schedules, kids, or early morning classes, it can be difficult to get a full 7 or 8 hours of sleep every night. However, if possible, the benefits are many. We hope we’ve answered all your questions about whether or not 6 hours of sleep per day is healthy, and hope we’ve given you some good tips and tricks to try to help you get more sleep if needed.
For more information, tips, and tricks, check out some of our other articles!