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