Sleep Deprivation Effects On Body Brain And Behavior: New National Sleep Foundation Study Outlines Age-Related Recommendations For A Good Night Sleep

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), about 50-70 million Americans suffer from the effects of sleep deprivation, and the problem isn't going away. Sleep deprivation is a serious health problem affecting a variety of factors from job productivity to general health, and the CDC has dubbed lack of sleep a "national epidemic."

The National Sleep Foundation has launched a one year review on sleep deprivation for the first time, and has released age-based recommendations for a good night sleep.

According to an expert panel on the subject, six individuals appointed by the NSF and 12 others hand picked by other groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Neurological Association, have made new recommendations.

The experts from the panel scrutinized the impact of sleep on a wide range of healthy issues - performance, mood, memory, and other health outcomes such as diabetes and hypertension.

The results and recommendations of NSF's study on sleep time duration were published in the Sleep Health Journal.

"The panel agreed that, for healthy individuals with normal sleep, the appropriate sleep duration for newborns is between 14 and 17 hours, infants between 12 and 15 hours, toddlers between 11 and 14 hours, preschoolers between 10 and 13 hours, and school-aged children between 9 and 11 hours," the study read.

"For teenagers, 8 to 10 hours was considered appropriate, 7 to 9 hours for young adults and adults, and 7 to 8 hours of sleep for older adults."

The new NSF study found "sufficient sleep duration requirements vary across the lifespan and from person to person. The recommendations reported here represent guidelines for healthy individuals and those not suffering from a sleep disorder."

"Sleep durations outside the recommended range may be appropriate, but deviating far from the normal range is rare. Individuals who habitually sleep outside the normal range may be exhibiting signs or symptoms of serious health problems or, if done volitionally, may be compromising their health and well-being," the report continued.