How long do people sleep on average?

The average number of hours of sleep someone needs varies strongly from person to person. Some people can be active for a whole day with only 5 hours of sleep, while others are only active once they’ve slept for about 10 hours. However, adults sleep between 7.5 and 9 hours on average per night.

 

 

Average hours of sleep per age

Besides the type of person, age is also an important indicator of how many hours of sleep people need. On average, Children need more hours of sleep than adults.

In the overview below you can see the average amount of sleep people of certain ages need.

 Age   Average sleep time 
 Newborn till 2 months   till 18 hours
 3 - 12 months  14 - 15 hours
 1 -3 years  12 - 14 hours
 3 - 5 years   11 - 13 hours
 5 - 12 years  10 - 11 hours
 Youngadult  8.5 - 10 hours
 Adult  7.5 - 9 hours 

 

Is too little sleep unhealthy?

It’s not immediately harmful for your health when you sleep too little. It can however have a negative effect on your concentration and responsiveness. This could lead to dangerous situations such as traffic accidents as result of poor concentration from the driver. Therefore it is important to get around 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night.

How long do animals sleep on average?

I’m sure you’ve noticed those cats that seem to sleep in the window-sill all day. But how many hours do animals sleep per day on average? Below you will find an overview with the average amount of sleep for different animals.

 Animal   Average sleep a day 
 Horse  5 hours
 Guinea pig   6 hours
 Elephant  3 hours
 Cat  12 hours
 Sloth   20 hours
 Dog  10 hours
 Lion  13 hours

See besides average sleep time also:
Average Bedtime Child