Is getting 6 hours of sleep one night and 10 hours the next equivalent to sleeping 8 hours and 8 hours?
In: Biology
For most people the answer is no.
If you are a person who needs 8 hours of sleep you can’t make up a 2 hour sleep deficit in one night. Over a few days you can make up a small sleep deficit by sleeping a little bit extra for several days in a row. It is possible to make up a large sleep deficit but it’s not as efficient as a 1 for 1 or even a 1 for 2 hour trade. You definitely can’t bank sleep by sleeping for 10+ hours the day before you pull an all-nighter.
However not everyone needs 8 hours of sleep each evening. Sleep requirements are a bell curve with 8 hours being the statistically most likely amount needed for the majority of the adult population. However, age and genetics can alter your sleep needs.
– Newborns: 14–17 hours
– Infants: 12–15 hours
– Toddlers: 11–14 hours
– Preschoolers: 10–13 hours
– School-aged children: 9–11 hours
– Teenagers: 8–10 hours
– Young adults and adults: 7–9 hours
– Older adults: 7–8 hours
Even these numbers are just guides there are people within these age ranges that need both more and less sleep. It also seems likely that genetics plays a role as statistically different sleep needs have been seen in some family’s.
However, most adults who think they don’t need an average of 8 hours of sleep are just chronically sleep deprived.
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