--- title: "Sleep timing — bedtimes worked back from your alarm" description: "What time to go to bed for any wake-up time, how much sleep each age actually needs, and why the 90-minute cycle everyone quotes is an average." url: https://atoneplace.net/sleep/ site: "At One Place" --- # Sleep Bedtimes worked back from 32 wake-up times and wake times worked forward from 28 bedtimes, at quarter-hour steps. The arithmetic is the same one every sleep calculator does. What is different here is that each page says what it assumes, because the ninety-minute cycle those calculators are built on is a population average and not a fact about your night. ## Start from your alarm - [Waking at 5:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-5-00-am/) — Asleep by 10:00 pm for seven hours, 8:00 pm for nine - [Waking at 5:30 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-5-30-am/) — Asleep by 10:30 pm for seven hours, 8:30 pm for nine - [Waking at 6:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-6-00-am/) — Asleep by 11:00 pm for seven hours, 9:00 pm for nine - [Waking at 6:30 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-6-30-am/) — Asleep by 11:30 pm for seven hours, 9:30 pm for nine - [Waking at 7:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-7-00-am/) — Asleep by 12:00 am for seven hours, 10:00 pm for nine - [Waking at 7:30 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-7-30-am/) — Asleep by 12:30 am for seven hours, 10:30 pm for nine - [Waking at 8:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-8-00-am/) — Asleep by 1:00 am for seven hours, 11:00 pm for nine - [Waking at 8:30 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-8-30-am/) — Asleep by 1:30 am for seven hours, 11:30 pm for nine - [Waking at 9:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-9-00-am/) — Asleep by 2:00 am for seven hours, 12:00 am for nine ## Every wake time - [4:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-4-00-am/) - [4:15 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-4-15-am/) - [4:30 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-4-30-am/) - [4:45 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-4-45-am/) - [5:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-5-00-am/) - [5:15 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-5-15-am/) - [5:30 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-5-30-am/) - [5:45 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-5-45-am/) - [6:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-6-00-am/) - [6:15 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-6-15-am/) - [6:30 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-6-30-am/) - [6:45 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-6-45-am/) - [7:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-7-00-am/) - [7:15 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-7-15-am/) - [7:30 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-7-30-am/) - [7:45 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-7-45-am/) - [8:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-8-00-am/) - [8:15 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-8-15-am/) - [8:30 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-8-30-am/) - [8:45 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-8-45-am/) - [9:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-9-00-am/) - [9:15 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-9-15-am/) - [9:30 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-9-30-am/) - [9:45 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-9-45-am/) - [10:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-10-00-am/) - [10:15 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-10-15-am/) - [10:30 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-10-30-am/) - [10:45 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-10-45-am/) - [11:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-11-00-am/) - [11:15 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-11-15-am/) - [11:30 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-11-30-am/) - [11:45 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/wake-at-11-45-am/) ## Or start from your bedtime - [8:00 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-8-00-pm/) - [8:15 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-8-15-pm/) - [8:30 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-8-30-pm/) - [8:45 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-8-45-pm/) - [9:00 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-9-00-pm/) - [9:15 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-9-15-pm/) - [9:30 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-9-30-pm/) - [9:45 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-9-45-pm/) - [10:00 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-10-00-pm/) - [10:15 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-10-15-pm/) - [10:30 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-10-30-pm/) - [10:45 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-10-45-pm/) - [11:00 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-11-00-pm/) - [11:15 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-11-15-pm/) - [11:30 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-11-30-pm/) - [11:45 pm](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-11-45-pm/) - [12:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-12-00-am/) - [12:15 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-12-15-am/) - [12:30 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-12-30-am/) - [12:45 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-12-45-am/) - [1:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-1-00-am/) - [1:15 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-1-15-am/) - [1:30 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-1-30-am/) - [1:45 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-1-45-am/) - [2:00 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-2-00-am/) - [2:15 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-2-15-am/) - [2:30 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-2-30-am/) - [2:45 am](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/bed-at-2-45-am/) ## How much sleep each age needs | 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 | - [How much sleep does a baby need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/babies/) — 12 to 16 hours - [How much sleep does a toddler need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/toddlers/) — 11 to 14 hours - [How much sleep does a preschooler need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/preschoolers/) — 10 to 13 hours - [How much sleep does a child of primary-school age need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/children/) — 9 to 12 hours - [How much sleep does a teenager need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/teenagers/) — 8 to 10 hours - [How much sleep does an adult need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/adults/) — 7 or more hours ## The parts worth understanding - [What a sleep cycle actually is](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/cycles/) — Stages, why the night is not made of identical cycles, and what that does to alarm timing - [When to stop drinking coffee](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/caffeine/) — A five-hour half-life means an afternoon coffee is still a quarter present at midnight ## Common questions ### What time should I go to bed to wake up at 6 am? Asleep between 9 pm and 11 pm for nine to seven hours, so in bed from about 8:45 pm to 10:45 pm allowing fifteen minutes to fall asleep. ### How much sleep do adults need? Seven or more hours a night, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine consensus statement. It gives a floor rather than a range and deliberately does not endorse eight as a target. ### How long is a sleep cycle? About 90 minutes on average, but genuinely 70 to 120 in practice, and the cycles lengthen through the night. That is why cycle-aligned alarm times are a rough target rather than a schedule. ## 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) - Recommended Amount of Sleep for Pediatric Populations: A Consensus Statement — Paruthi et al., Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine 12(6), 2016 (https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.5866) - Normal Human Sleep: An Overview — Carskadon & Dement, Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine, 6th ed., 2017 (https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-24288-2.00002-7)