Duration of healthy sleep phases in children and adults: what should they be?

The human body needs to rest regularly. Night rest helps to stabilize blood circulation, normalize metabolic processes, and neutralize the effects of stress. In addition, when a person sleeps, he actively synthesizes somatotropic hormone - one of the main regulators of growth and development of the body, which is also called the hormone of strength and slimness. Normal concentration of somatotropic hormone is very important for both adults and children, starting from the moment of birth. It has been proven that regular insufficient or inadequate sleep can lead to the development of severe mental disorders. So what should be the normal duration of sleep?

Average sleep duration

According to statistics, men need less time to fully rest, while women need more. Older people sleep less than young people, and city dwellers sleep less than rural residents. The average duration of normal sleep should be about seven hours, but, as it becomes clear, this figure is only a guideline, and the true need for sleep is different for each person.

Experts have suggested a surefire way to calculate the average optimal duration of sleep. To do this, you need to… go on vacation. During ten nights of vacation, you need to sleep as much as you want and wake up without an alarm clock. Every day, you will have to record how long your sleep lasted. Then, after 10 days, all the recorded hours need to be added up and divided by 10. The resulting value reflects the average time needed for a good rest.

In childhood, the body needs much more time to recover. But the child's body especially needs the somatotropic hormone, which we talked about above. Since this hormone is synthesized when we sleep, small children need to sleep a lot - both at night and during the day.

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What influences sleep duration?

The duration of sleep can be affected by a variety of factors. Moreover, these factors can both lengthen and shorten the time of rest. Therefore, it is reasonable to divide them into two categories:

• What can increase the duration of sleep?

The first remedy that can have a significant impact on the duration of sleep is barbiturates, sedatives or sleeping pills. Although, if possible, it is better to do without drugs. The advantage of these drugs is that a person, having taken a pill, falls asleep well and for a long time. The disadvantages are also not long in coming: over time, with frequent use of the next dose of sleeping pills, the body "gets used to it". This means that each time a person will have to take more and more of the drug. In addition, barbiturates upset the natural sequence of phases of normal sleep. Therefore, such drugs can be used 1-2 times, no more. The main treatment should be aimed at eliminating the underlying cause of sleep disorders.

In addition to medications, the following factors can increase the duration of sleep:

1. massage, warm bath at night;
2. severe fatigue;
3. a cup of warm milk with honey;
4. aromatherapy (for example, inhaling essential oils of lavender or mint).

• What can shorten the duration of sleep?

The following factors reduce sleep and worsen its quality:

1. external stimuli (noise in the room or outside the window, uncomfortable ambient temperature, uncomfortable bed, etc.);
2. internal irritants (recent stress, obsessive thoughts, excessive brain activity).

Insufficient duration of human sleep

If there is little time for sleep - and this condition is repeated every night, then this can have a negative effect on a person's well-being, and in the future - on his health in general. Everyone should know about the consequences of lack of sleep in order to be able to warn them in a timely manner. What consequences are we talking about?

• Cognitive disorders are expressed in the deterioration of brain activity, impaired concentration and memory. As a result, this leads to problems at work, in everyday life, in society, because a person without sleep loses the ability to adequately react and control what is happening around him.
• Weakness of the body's immune defenses as a result of lack of sleep leads to the development of various diseases - from acute respiratory viral infections and acute respiratory infections to chronic pathologies of the cardiovascular or digestive systems.
• The emergence of eating disorders and failures is associated with the fact that the body is constantly under stress without rest. Stress, in turn, stimulates the secretion of the "hunger" hormone - ghrelin. What does this lead to? To a constant feeling of hunger, overeating, eating disorders, obesity.
• Loss of working capacity is a consequence of deterioration in productivity against the background of a constant feeling of fatigue. A person can lose not only the ability to work: interest in work also fades, motivation disappears.
• Depressed mood, depressions are caused by poor health, lack of understanding from friends, relatives and colleagues at work. A person becomes irritable, capricious, unrestrained.
• Deterioration of appearance is expressed in the deterioration of the skin and hair, the appearance of bruises and bags around the eyes.

If lack of sleep becomes chronic, then more serious pathologies gradually begin to make themselves known, including diabetes, strokes, heart attacks, etc.

Sleep duration in children

Is there a normal amount of sleep for a child?

If the child is over seven years old, then the following "law" begins to apply to him: tired - sleeps longer, not tired - sleeps less. If the baby is still small, or even a baby, then there are generally accepted normal sleep indicators in pediatrics, which it is advisable to adhere to - for the normal development of the child.

The younger the baby, the longer the duration of sleep should be. For example, a newborn baby sleeps almost constantly, by the age of one year the duration of sleep decreases to 13 hours, and by 3-4 years it can be 11.5 hours. For children aged 7-8 years, the recommended duration of sleep is set at 10 hours, and for high school students - 9 hours.

The duration of sleep for infants is described in the following table:

Age of the child	Duration of daytime sleep	Duration of night sleep	Daily sleep duration
Newborn baby	On average, 3 hours with short periods of wakefulness	Continuous sleep 5-6 hours	Until 19-20 h
Baby up to 3 months of age	About six hours, in several stages	Up to 12:00	Until 6 p.m.
Baby three to five months old	From 4 to 6 hours	Up to 12:00	Until 6 p.m.
Baby 6-8 months old	From 2 to 4 hours	Up to 12:00	Until 4 p.m.
Baby nine to eleven months old	From 2 to 3 hours	Up to 12:00	From 13:00 to 15:00
Baby 1-1.5 years old	From 2 to 3 hours	Up to 12:00	From 12 to 15 hours
Baby 2 years old	2-3 hours	Up to 12:00	From 12 to 15 hours

Babies from the age of 2, as a rule, switch to a single daytime sleep, 1-2 hours. After three years, the recommended duration of daytime sleep is about 1.5 hours, but many children at this age may refuse to sleep during the day. In such a situation, there is no point in forcing the baby, but nighttime sleep will have to be extended - up to 11-13 hours.

The duration of sleep for teenagers aged 12-14 is defined as 9.5 hours, and after 14 years it should be on average 9 hours. Deviations of 1-2 hours are allowed if the teenager behaves adequately and does not complain about his health.

The above norms are derived from the average recommended values. Of course, they are not a dogma - some children require more hours of rest, while others - less. The sleep schedule cannot be strictly adjusted, down to the minute. Just pay attention to the child's well-being: if he is cheerful, playful, feels well, then his duration of sleep can be considered individually optimal. Pediatricians also pay attention to the fact that the need for sleep often depends on the character or temperament of the baby. That is, a child with a difficult character, who is difficult to educate, often requires fewer hours of rest, unlike a calm, docile baby. In addition, the quality and duration of sleep is largely influenced by genes, as well as such periods as teething, adaptation to kindergarten, school, etc.

When assessing the child's well-being, lethargy, apathy, and irritability should be a cause for concern. Moreover, the cause of such signs may be both a lack and an excess of sleep. Therefore, the issue of the quality and duration of sleep in each child must be considered individually.

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Sleep duration in elderly people

In older people, the duration of sleep changes, but insomnia should not normally occur even at this age. Although many believe that sleep problems in old people are a natural phenomenon. This is not true. Problems, if they exist, are always associated with some diseases or medications.

As experts point out, for an elderly person under 80 years of age, normal sleep is considered to be 6-6.5 hours of rest. Although some people may need 8 hours of sleep.

Older people are characterized by slow falling asleep, tossing and turning, and frequent awakenings. About a third of old people sleep shallowly, superficially – experts associate this tendency with instability of nervous processes, with frequent experiences, stress, and fears.

Sleep problems cannot be considered an integral part of old age, but they are often found in old people. However, it should be taken into account that such problems in most people can be successfully eliminated with medication.

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Duration of sleep phases

Sleep occurs in two forms - slow and fast. Scientists have long determined that every night in one sleep cycle a person experiences two phases:

1. The duration of slow sleep is about one and a half hours;
2. The rapid phase lasts from several minutes to half an hour.

This feature can be considered in more detail.

• The slow phase occurs immediately after falling asleep. It consists of five stages:

1. Stage zero – drowsiness occurs, the motor activity of the eyeballs fades, and mental activity slows down. If EEG diagnostics are performed at this stage, α-waves can be detected.
2. The first stage is when the reaction to external and internal stimuli weakens and the person falls asleep.
3. The second stage is superficial sleep. The EEG shows a dulling of consciousness, which is manifested by the appearance of σ-waves.
4. The third and fourth stages are deep sleep. The EEG records δ-waves, which in humans manifests itself in the emergence of dreams.
5. The fourth stage is transitional – it marks the beginning of the REM sleep phase.

• The fast phase replaces the slow one, its duration is from ten to twenty minutes. If a person is diagnosed at this time, then one can note a slight increase in blood pressure, motor activation of the eyeballs, stimulation of cardiac activity and even a slight increase in temperature. During the fast phase, brain activity is also activated, vivid dreams occur.

The average duration of deep sleep is one hour. It is believed that the average person can dream 4-6 dreams per night, approximately every hour and a half, depending on the total duration of sleep.

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How to increase the duration of deep sleep?

The normal duration of deep sleep for an adult varies between 30 and 70% of the total sleep period. Since the quality of deep sleep is very important for each person, many people ask themselves the question: is it possible to increase the duration of deep sleep, and how to do it?

There are some useful tips on this matter:

1. It is necessary to make a clear schedule of nighttime rest and stick to it as much as possible. For example, the schedule should reflect a constant time of going to bed every evening, as well as the time of getting up in the morning.
2. It is advisable to give your body moderate physical activity a few hours before bedtime (but not immediately before bedtime).
3. At night you can’t:

• smoke;
• overeat;
• drink strong tea and coffee;
• drink alcoholic beverages;
• drink energy drinks, cola.

4. You need to prepare for sleep in a certain way:

• the room should be ventilated;
• the windows need to be covered with curtains that do not let in light;
• the room should be free of extraneous distracting sounds;
• You need to make sure that the bed and bedding are comfortable.

Record for the duration of sleep

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the longest sleep was recorded by a resident of the Dnipropetrovsk region, who was 34 years old at the time of falling asleep - this was in 1954. The woman, whose name was Nadezhda, experienced a serious conflict in the family, after which, being in a stressful state, she went to sleep. Could she have known then that she would sleep for two long decades!

Doctors could not give the sleeping patient any specific diagnosis. During her long sleep, the woman's husband died, and her daughter had to be placed in an orphanage, since only Nadezhda's elderly mother remained, who could not simultaneously care for the sleeping woman and devote time to the little girl at that time.

However, in 1974, Nadezhda's mother passed away. When she was buried, her daughter came to her sleeping mother and discovered that she had woken up. In tears, Nadezhda exclaimed: "My mother died?" As it turned out, all these years the woman heard everything that was happening around her, but could not open her eyes - according to her, she was immersed in a deep sleep.

The woman quickly went through the adaptation period. When she woke up, she looked like she did twenty years ago – a young and attractive 34-year-old woman. However, with each passing day, Nadezhda began to age rapidly, and after a few months, she began to look like she was 54 years old.

Minimum sleep duration

Each person has their own individual need for sleep – and it is different for everyone. There are people who are simply unable to sleep for long – “extra” sleep duration causes headaches, decreased ability to work and other symptoms. Another category of people, on the contrary, requires more time for sleep – often seven hours of sleep is not enough for such people. Optimally – 9-10 hours.

For example, Napoleon Bonaparte needed 4 hours for a full rest, but the famous Einstein liked to sleep longer - about 10 hours. Therefore, the true duration of sleep is individual and cannot be a single indicator.

We have already discussed above how to determine your optimal sleep duration.

On average, scientists recommend the following minimum sleep duration depending on age:

• for young people 25 years old – 7.2 hours;
• for middle-aged people (40-50 years) – 6.8 hours;
• for elderly people (65-80 years) – 6.5 hours.

Sleep and its influence on life expectancy

Scientists have found that regular insufficient sleep – less than seven hours – significantly weakens the immune system and reduces human life expectancy. Adequate sleep affects the level of dopamine and somatotropin, which are essential for the normal recovery of the entire body. And constant insufficient sleep is even associated with the risk of developing cancer.

Comparing the quality of sleep and life expectancy of different people, experts came to the following conclusions:

• Modern people suffer from varying degrees of sleep deprivation. Today, the average duration of human sleep is about 7 hours, while two centuries ago this figure was at least 9 hours.
• Sleeping less than six hours a night can cause diabetes and also contribute to the accumulation of amyloid proteins in the blood, which cause senile dementia and heart disease.
• Insufficient sleep duration leads to loss of immune cells. As a result – frequent viral and microbial diseases.
• Sleeping less than six hours a day leads to a 15% decrease in intellectual abilities. At the same time, the risk of developing obesity increases by almost 25%.
• During sleep, the production of collagen, responsible for youth and elasticity of the skin, is activated. As a result, age-related changes on the face appear faster.
• The main part of melatonin is produced at night, when a person sleeps. Melatonin performs an important function: first of all, this substance prevents the development of tumor processes and reduces the risk of premature death.

From all of the above, it becomes clear that the duration of sleep is a fundamental factor that affects both our health and well-being, as well as life expectancy. The negative consequences of insufficient sleep appear relatively quickly, so experts recommend not to postpone solving the problem and to improve sleep as soon as possible.