How Much Sleep Do You Need by Age? (AASM and CDC Chart)

On this page

1. Check your own number
2. How much sleep do adults need?
3. Why do some sources say 7 to 9 hours and others 7 or more?
4. Can you sleep too much?
5. How much sleep do teenagers need?
6. How much sleep do kids and babies need?
7. Do older adults need less sleep?
8. How to tell whether you’re getting enough
9. Does quality count as much as hours?
10. Can you catch up on lost sleep?
11. Common questions

Here’s the full chart, from newborns to adults over 65. The hours are per 24 hours, so naps count for babies and young kids. Below it you’ll find a quick tool, an explanation of why sources print slightly different numbers, and how to tell whether you personally are getting enough.

The CDC publishes this same chart on its About Sleep page, drawing on the pediatric and adult consensus statements from the AASM plus the National Sleep Foundation’s ranges for newborns and older adults.

Check your own number

Enter your age to see the recommended range for you, then use it to work out a bedtime.

Once you know your target, the sleep calculator counts back from your wake-up time to a bedtime that fits it.

How much sleep do adults need?

Seven hours is the floor, not the target. In 2015 a 15-member panel from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society reviewed 5,314 studies and concluded that adults should sleep 7 or more hours per night on a regular basis. They deliberately didn’t set an upper number for everyone.

The same statement lists what regularly sleeping under 7 hours is linked to: weight gain and obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke, depression and a higher risk of death, along with weaker immune function, more pain, more errors and more accidents. Those are associations from population studies, so they don’t prove that one short week causes harm. They’re the reason the panel landed where it did.

Plenty of people fall short. CDC survey data put the share of adults sleeping less than 7 hours at anywhere from 30% in Vermont to 46% in Hawaii in 2022, depending on the state.

Why do some sources say 7 to 9 hours and others 7 or more?

Two expert groups published ranges in 2015, and they framed them differently.

• The AASM and Sleep Research Society said “7 or more” for adults 18 to 60, and added that more than 9 hours a night may be appropriate for some people.
• The National Sleep Foundation panel gave closed ranges: 7 to 9 hours for young and middle-aged adults and 7 to 8 for older adults. Its numbers for some children differ slightly too, such as 9 to 11 hours for school-age kids where the AASM says 9 to 12.
• The NHLBI at NIH simply says adults need 7 to 8 hours a day and stresses that sleep needs vary from person to person.

They agree on the part that matters most. Under 7 hours, night after night, is too little for nearly every adult. The CDC chart blends the two: AASM figures for ages 4 months to 60 years, NSF figures for newborns and adults over 60.

Can you sleep too much?

Sometimes long sleep is exactly what your body needs. The AASM panel said sleeping more than 9 hours on a regular basis may be appropriate for young adults, people recovering from sleep debt and people who are ill. For everyone else, it called the health risk of long sleep “uncertain.”

What’s worth noticing is long sleep that doesn’t leave you rested. NHLBI advises talking with your doctor if you sleep more than 8 hours a night but don’t feel well rested. That pattern can point to poor-quality sleep, a sleep disorder or another health problem.

How much sleep do teenagers need?

Eight to 10 hours, for ages 13 to 18. That’s the AASM pediatric consensus, which the American Academy of Pediatrics also endorsed.

Teens have it harder than the number suggests. Puberty brings biological changes that push sleep later, and the AAP has identified school start times before 8:30 am as a major, fixable reason teens run short. Its policy statement asks schools to start late enough that students can get 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep. A teen who falls asleep at 11:30 pm and has to be up at 6 am is getting about 6.5 hours, well under the range, no matter how disciplined they are.

How much sleep do kids and babies need?

The AASM ranges for children, published in 2016, run from 12 to 16 hours for infants 4 to 12 months down to 9 to 12 hours for ages 6 to 12. Through age 5 those totals include naps, so a 3-year-old who sleeps 10.5 hours at night and naps for an hour is getting 11.5 hours, inside the 10-to-13 range.

The AASM statement doesn’t cover babies under 4 months, because newborn sleep varies so much. The CDC fills that gap with the National Sleep Foundation’s 14 to 17 hours. If your baby or child seems to sleep far outside these ranges, or snores, gasps or struggles to wake, ask your pediatrician.

Do older adults need less sleep?

Not much less. The ranges for adults over 60 are 7 to 9 hours (ages 61 to 64) and 7 to 8 hours (65 and older), only a small step down from younger adults. What changes more is how the sleep feels. MedlinePlus notes that total sleep time in older adults stays the same or drops slightly, to about 6.5 to 7 hours; they spend less time in deep sleep and wake an average of 3 or 4 times a night.

So waking more often isn’t automatically a problem. Feeling unrefreshed during the day, or lying awake for long stretches, is worth raising with a doctor. If early waking is your issue, see why you wake up at 3 am.

How to tell whether you’re getting enough

The chart gives you a range. Your days tell you where you fall inside it. These are reasonable signs you need more than you’re getting:

• You sleep much longer on days off than on workdays. NHLBI says this can be a sign of not getting enough sleep during the week.
• You need an alarm every morning and feel groggy for a long time after it.
• You nod off unintentionally during the day: in meetings, on the couch, or as a passenger.
• You feel sleepy or tired even after what should be enough hours, one of the signs of poor sleep quality the CDC lists, along with trouble falling asleep and waking repeatedly.

A simple test: on a stretch of days with no alarm, such as a vacation, note when you naturally fall asleep and wake once the first few catch-up nights are over. That’s a rough read on your real need.

Does quality count as much as hours?

Yes. The CDC defines quality sleep as uninterrupted and refreshing. Eight hours broken up by a snoring partner, a bladder or a sleep disorder may leave you worse off than seven solid ones. If you’re spending enough time in bed and still waking up tired, the problem may be what happens during the night rather than how long it lasts. Our guide to sleep stages explains what a full night looks like.

Can you catch up on lost sleep?

Partly. NHLBI describes missed sleep as a debt: lose 2 hours a night for a week and you’re 14 hours behind. Extra sleep on days off may help you feel better, but NHLBI cautions that you can’t really make up for lost sleep with naps, and that sleeping in can throw off your body clock. A steadier plan is to move your bedtime earlier by 15 to 30 minutes and keep your wake-up time fixed. If you do nap, keep it short; how long a nap should be has the numbers.

If you’re short on sleep because it takes you forever to drift off, start with how to fall asleep fast, then pick a bedtime with what time you should go to bed. More on the basics lives in Sleep Science.

Common questions

How many hours of sleep does an adult need?

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the CDC say adults 18 to 60 need 7 or more hours a night on a regular basis. The National Sleep Foundation's range is 7 to 9 hours for younger adults and 7 to 8 for those 65 and older.

Is 6 hours of sleep enough?

For nearly all adults, no. Regularly sleeping under 7 hours is linked with weight gain, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, depression, more errors and more accidents.

How much sleep does a teenager need?

Teens 13 to 18 need 8 to 10 hours per 24 hours, according to the AASM, and the American Academy of Pediatrics endorsed that range.

Is sleeping 9 or 10 hours bad?

Not necessarily. The AASM says more than 9 hours may be appropriate for young adults, people recovering from sleep debt and people who are ill. If you sleep long and still don't feel rested, talk to a doctor.

Do older adults need less sleep?

Only slightly. The CDC lists 7 to 9 hours for ages 61 to 64 and 7 to 8 hours for 65 and older; older adults tend to get less deep sleep and wake more often.