New sleep times recommended by experts
A significant number of Australians aren't getting enough sleep, if new guidelines by the US-based National Sleep Foundation (NSF) are anything to go by.
The NSF, considered the leading authority on sleep, has updated its official recommendations after convening an 18-member panel. It included six sleep specialists and experts from 12 health organisations, such as the American Academy of Paediatrics, American Neurological Association and the American Geriatrics Society.
The panel reviewed over 300 recent studies into sleep and then voted on how much sleep is appropriate at different age brackets across a lifespan.
The recommended sleep times are:
- Newborns (0-3 months): Sleep range narrowed to 14-17 hours each day (previously it was 12-18)
- Infants (4-11 months): Sleep range widened two hours to 12-15 hours (previously it was 14-15)
- Toddlers (1-2 years): Sleep range widened by one hour to 11-14 hours (previously it was 12-14)
- Preschoolers (3-5): Sleep range widened by one hour to 10-13 hours (previously it was 11-13)
- School age children (6-13): Sleep range widened by one hour to 9-11 hours (previously it was 10-11)
- Teenagers (14-17): Sleep range widened by one hour to 8-10 hours (previously it was 8.5-9.5)
- Younger adults (18-25): Sleep range is 7-9 hours (new age category)
- Adults (26-64): Sleep range did not change and remains 7-9 hours
- Older adults (65+): Sleep range is 7-8 hours (new age category)
Charles A. Czeisler, NSF chairman of the board, said this was the first time any professional organisation had developed age-specific recommended sleep durations based on the world's scientific literature linking sleep duration to health, performance and safety.
According to the chiropractors association of Australia over 1.2 million Australians experience sleep disorders, and sleep on average about 1 to 1.5 hours a night less than we did 100 years ago.
Professor Philippa Gander, director the Sleep/Wake Research Centre at Massey University in New Zealand, says the fact that we’ve been taking sleep for granted is concerning.
"With all the pressures of modern life we think we'll get more out of life by cutting back on sleep. But the No 1 message that's coming out of the last 50 years of sleep research is that we pay a price for not getting enough sleep."
As well as the health impacts over a long amount of time, we pay a price in terms of how we function and feel when we're awake.
"If affects your emotional status, your ability to perform any number of tasks and affects your ability to reason," says Gander.
She sums it up by saying there are three important requirements for good health.
"We all know the first two – diet and exercise. But the third factor is sleep – that's the message now clearly coming through."
Written by Aileen Nakhle. This article first appeared on Stuff.co.nz.
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