The duration of the phases of healthy sleep in children and adults: what should be?

The human body needs to rest regularly. Night rest allows you to stabilize blood circulation, normalize metabolic processes, neutralize the effects of stress. In addition, when a person sleeps, he is actively synthesized growth hormone - one of the main regulators of growth and development of the body, which is also called the hormone of strength and harmony. Normal concentration of growth hormone is very important, both for adults and for children, since the birth of the child. It is proved that regular inadequate or inferior sleep can lead to the development of severe mental disorders. So what should be the normal duration of sleep?

Average duration of sleep

According to statistics, men need less time for complete rest, and more for women. Older people sleep less than younger people, and city dwellers sleep less than villagers. The average duration of normal sleep should be about seven hours, but as it becomes clear, this figure is only a landmark, and each person has a different need for a dream.

Specialists suggested the correct way of calculating the average optimal sleep duration. For this it is necessary ... To go on vacation. For ten nights during the holiday you need to sleep as much as you want, and wake up without an alarm. Daily will have to record how long the dream lasted. Then, after 10 days, all the fixed clocks need to be folded and divided by 10. That value, which turned out, reflects the average time necessary for a proper rest.

In childhood, the body takes much longer to recover. But especially the children's body needs a growth hormone, of which we spoke above. Since this hormone is synthesized, when we sleep, small children need to sleep necessarily and much - both at night and during the day.

[1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9],

What affects the duration of sleep?

The duration of sleep can affect a variety of factors. Moreover, these factors are capable of both lengthening and shortening the rest time. 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 effect on the duration of sleep is barbiturates, soothing or hypnotic medicines. Although, if possible, better do without medication. Plus, these medications are that a person taking a pill, falls asleep qualitatively and for a long time. Cons, too, do not make you wait long: with time, with frequent use of a regular dose of sleeping pills, the body "gets used to." This means that each time a person will have to take an increasing amount of the drug. In addition, barbiturates upset the natural sequence of phases of normal sleep. Therefore, such medications can be used 1-2 times, not more. The main treatment should be aimed at eliminating the underlying cause of sleep disorders.

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

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

• What can reduce the duration of sleep?

Reducing sleep and worsen its quality are such factors:

1. external stimuli (noises inside or outside the window, uncomfortable ambient temperature, uncomfortable bed, etc.);
2. internal irritants (recent stress, obsessive thoughts, excessive cerebral activity).

Insufficient duration of sleep

If there is not enough time to sleep - and this condition repeats itself every night, it can be bad for the health of a person, and in the future - for his health in general. The consequences of lack of sleep need to be known to everyone in order to be able to warn them in a timely manner. What are the consequences?

• Cognitive disorders are expressed in the deterioration of brain activity, violation of concentration and memory. As a result, this leads to problems at work, at home, in society, because a person without sleep loses the ability to adequately react and control what is happening around him.
• The weakness of the immune defense of the body as a result of lack of sleep entails the development of various diseases - from ARVI and ARI to chronic pathologies of the cardiovascular or digestive systems.
• The emergence of food disorders and disruptions is due to the fact that the body without rest is constantly experiencing a state of stress. Stress, in turn, spurs the secretion of the "hungry" hormone - ghrelin. What does this lead to? To a constant sense of hunger, overeating, eating disorders, obesity.
• Loss of ability to work is a consequence of the deterioration of labor productivity against the background of a constant sense of fatigue. A person can lose not only the opportunity to work: the interest to work also fades away, motivation disappears.
• Depressed mood, depression caused by poor health, misunderstanding from friends, relatives and colleagues at work. The person becomes irritable, capricious, unrestrained.
• Deterioration of appearance is expressed in 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, such as diabetes, strokes, heart attacks, etc., gradually begin to manifest themselves.

Duration of sleep in children

Is there a rate of sleep for a child?

If a child is more than seven years old, then such a "law" starts to work for him: tired - sleeps longer, not tired - sleeps less. If the baby is still small, or even a baby, for him there are generally accepted in pediatrics normal sleep indicators, which it is desirable to adhere to - for the normal development of the child.

The younger the baby, the longer the sleep should be. For example, a newborn baby sleeps almost constantly, by the year the duration of sleep decreases to 13 hours, and by 3-4 years it can be 11.5 hours. For children 7-8 years, the recommended duration of sleep is defined at 10 o'clock, and for pupils of the older schools - 9 hours.

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

Age of child	Duration of a day's sleep	Duration of a night's sleep	Daily duration of sleep
Newborn baby	An average of 3 hours through small periods of wakefulness	Continuous sleep 5-6 h	Up to 19-20 h
Toddler up to 3 months of age	About six hours, several visits	Up to 12 hours	Till 18 o'clock
Baby three to five months old	From 4 to 6 pm	Up to 12 hours	Till 18 o'clock
Baby six to eight months old	From 2 to 4 PM	Up to 12 hours	Till 16 o'clock
The kid is nine to eleven months old.	From 2 to 3 PM	Up to 12 hours	From 13 to 15 pm
Kid 1-1,5 years old	From 2 to 3 PM	Up to 12 hours	From 12 to 15 pm
Baby 2 years old	2-3 hours	Up to 12 hours	From 12 to 15 pm

Babies from 2 years of age usually go to a one-day sleep, 1-2 hours. After three years, the duration of a day's sleep is about 1.5 hours, but many children at this age can refuse to sleep during the day. In such a situation, to force a baby does not make sense, but the night sleep will have to be extended - up to 11-13 hours.

Duration of sleep in adolescents 12-14 years is defined at 9.5 hours, and after 14 years it should be an average of 9 hours. Deviations within 1-2 hours are allowed if the adolescent behaves adequately and does not make complaints about his health.

The above standard values 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 mode can not be strictly adjusted, up to a minute. Just pay attention to the child's well-being: if he is cheerful, playful, feels well, then his sleep duration can be considered individually optimal. Pediatricians pay attention to the fact that the need for sleep often depends on the character, or on the temperament of the baby. That is, a child with a complex character that is difficult to educate, often requires fewer hours for rest, in contrast to a quiet, easy-going baby. In addition, the quality and duration of sleep is largely influenced by genes, as well as such periods as teething, adaptation to kindergarten, to school, etc.

At an estimation of state of health of the child should be listened to lethargy, apathy, irritability. And the cause of such signs can be, both a lack, and an excess of a dream. Therefore, the question of the quality and duration of sleep in each child should be considered individually.

[10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18]

Duration of sleep in the elderly person

In elderly people, the duration of sleep varies, but insomnia even at this age should not be normal. Although many believe that the problems with sleep in the elderly - a natural phenomenon. This is not true. Problems, if they exist, are always associated with any diseases, or with the use of medications.

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

Typical for the elderly is slow falling asleep, waking up, frequent awakenings. About a third of the old people sleep in a shallow, shallow sleep - experts associate this trend with the instability of nervous processes, with frequent experiences, stresses, fears.

Sleep problems can not be considered an integral part of the elderly, but they are often found in old people. However, it must be borne in mind that such failures in most people can be successfully eliminated medically.

[19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25]

Duration of sleep phases

Sleep proceeds in two variants - according to the slow and fast type. Scientists have long determined that nightly in one sleep cycle, a person experiences two phases:

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

This feature can be considered in more detail.

• The slow phase occurs immediately after diving into sleep. It consists of five stages:

1. Zero stage - there is a nap, the motor activity of eyeballs fades, inhibited mental activity. If at this stage to carry out EEG diagnostics, then it is possible to detect α-waves.
2. The first stage - the reaction to factors of external and internal irritation weakens, the person falls asleep.
3. The second stage is a superficial dream. On the EEG, dullness of consciousness is noted, which is manifested by the appearance of σ-waves.
4. The third and fourth stage is a deep sleep. On the EEG δ-waves are fixed, which in man is manifested by the appearance of dreams.
5. The fourth stage is transitional - it starts the phase of fast sleep.

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

The duration of deep sleep is an average of one hour. It is believed that an ordinary person can see 4-6 dreams during the night, approximately every half hour, depending on the total duration of sleep.

[26], [27]

How to increase the duration of deep sleep?

The rate of the 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 every person, many are wondering - is it possible to increase the duration of deep sleep, and how to do it?

There are several useful recommendations to this effect:

1. It is necessary to draw a clear schedule for a night rest and stick to it as much as possible. For example, the schedule should reflect the constant nightly turn-around time, as well as the time of the morning ascent.
2. It is advisable to give the body a moderate physical load a few hours before bedtime (but not immediately before bedtime).
3. At night you can not:

• smoking;
• overeat;
• drink strong tea and coffee;
• drink alcohol;
• drink energy drinks, cola.

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

• the room should be ventilated;
• windows should be covered with curtains that do not allow light;
• There should be no outside distractions in the room;
• you need to make sure that the bed and bed are comfortable.

Record length of sleep

If you believe the Guinness Book of Records, the longest sleep was recorded in a resident of the Dnepropetrovsk region, who was 34 at the time of her asleep - that was in 1954. A woman named Nadezhda, experienced a serious conflict in the family, after which, while in a stressful state, she went to bed. Could she have known then that she would sleep for two decades?

Physicians could not put a certain diagnosis to the sleeping patient. During a long sleep the woman's husband passed away, and her daughter had to be identified in the orphanage, since only the elderly mother of Hope remained, who could not take care of the sleeping at the same time, and give 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 found that she had woken up. All in tears, Hope exclaimed: "My mother is dead?" As it turned out, all these years the woman heard everything that was happening around her, but could not open her eyes - she said she was plunged into a heavy sleep.

The woman quickly passed the period of adaptation. At the moment of awakening, she looked like twenty years ago - a young and attractive 34-year-old woman. However, every day Hope began to rapidly grow old, and after a few months began to look at its 54 years.

The minimum duration of sleep

Everyone has his own individual need for sleep - and everyone has different needs. There are people who simply can not sleep for a long time - the "extra" length of sleep causes them a headache, impaired ability to work and other symptoms. Another category of people, on the contrary, requires more time for sleep - often seven hours of sleep for such people is not enough. Optimum - 9-10 hours.

For example, Napoleon Bonaparte for a good rest was enough 4 hours, but the famous Einstein like to sleep a little longer - about 10 hours. Therefore, the true duration of sleep is individual and can not represent a single indicator.

How to determine your optimal length of sleep, we already said above.

On average, scientists recommend such a minimum duration of sleep depending on age:

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

Sleep and its impact on life expectancy

Scientists have found that a regular lack of sleep - less than seven hours, significantly weakens immune defenses and reduces the duration of human life. A full-fledged sleep affects the level of dopamine and growth hormone, on which the normal recovery of the entire organism depends. And a constant lack of sleep is associated even with the risk of oncological diseases.

Comparing the quality of sleep and the length of life of different people, experts came to such conclusions:

• Modern people suffer some degree of lack of sleep. To date, the average duration of human sleep is about 7 hours, whereas two centuries ago this figure was at least 9 hours.
• Duration of sleep less than six hours a day can cause the development of diabetes, and also promotes the accumulation of amyloid proteins in the blood, causing senile dementia and heart diseases.
• Insufficient sleep duration leads to the loss of immunity cells. As a result, frequent viral and microbial diseases.
• Sleep less than six hours a day leads to a decrease in intellectual capacity by 15%. At the same time, the risk of obesity increases by almost 25%.
• In the dream, the production of collagen, responsible for the youthfulness and elasticity of the skin, is activated. As a consequence, age changes on the face are manifested more quickly.
• The bulk 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 affecting, both our health and well-being, and life expectancy. The negative consequences of lack of sleep are relatively rapid, therefore, experts recommend not postponing the solution of the problem, and to establish a sleep as soon as possible.