---
title: "How much sleep does an adult need?"
description: "Adults, 18 and over: 7 or more hours a day. What the consensus statement actually says, and how to work a bedtime back from it."
url: https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/adults/
site: "At One Place"
---

# How much sleep does an adult need?

**Adults, 18 and over need: 7 or more hours a night**

A floor, not a target — the statement gives no upper figure

The consensus statement gives a floor, not a range: seven or more hours on a regular basis. It does not endorse eight as a target, and it declines to state an upper bound, because regularly sleeping more than nine hours is associated with poor health outcomes without the direction of causation being established.

## What the recommendation is and is not

The adult consensus statement says seven or more hours on a regular basis. It deliberately does not name an upper bound and it does not endorse eight hours as a target, because the evidence for a specific optimum inside the healthy range is weak. Sleeping under seven regularly is where the association with poor outcomes becomes consistent.

## Every age band

| Age | Per day | What it covers |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Babies, 4 to 12 months | 12 to 16 hours | Including daytime naps |
| Toddlers, 1 to 2 years | 11 to 14 hours | Including daytime naps |
| Preschoolers, 3 to 5 years | 10 to 13 hours | Including daytime naps |
| Children, 6 to 12 years | 9 to 12 hours | Night sleep |
| Teenagers, 13 to 18 years | 8 to 10 hours | Night sleep |
| Adults, 18 and over | 7 or more hours | Night sleep |

## Working out a bedtime from it

*Using the lower end of the range and allowing 15 minutes to fall asleep.*

| Wake at | Asleep by, for 7 hours | In bed by |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 6:00 am | 11:00 pm | 10:45 pm |
| 6:30 am | 11:30 pm | 11:15 pm |
| 7:00 am | 12:00 am | 11:45 pm |
| 7:30 am | 12:30 am | 12:15 am |
| 8:00 am | 1:00 am | 12:45 am |

## Common questions

### How much sleep does an adult need?

7 or more hours per day. The consensus statement gives a floor, not a range: seven or more hours on a regular basis. It does not endorse eight as a target, and it declines to state an upper bound, because regularly sleeping more than nine hours is associated with poor health outcomes without the direction of causation being established.

### Where does that figure come from?

The joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, published in 2015.

## Related pages

- [How much sleep does a baby need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/babies/)
- [How much sleep does a toddler need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/toddlers/)
- [How much sleep does a preschooler need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/preschoolers/)
- [How much sleep does a child of primary-school age need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/children/)
- [How much sleep does a teenager need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/teenagers/)
- [What a sleep cycle actually is](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/cycles/)

## Sources

- Recommended Amount of Sleep for a Healthy Adult: A Joint Consensus Statement — Watson et al., Sleep 38(6) / Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2015 (https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.4716)