How Much Sleep Do We Need?

I never get that much sleep and I'm always up late due to procrastinating my homework while also juggle color guard(info on what guard is http://millbrookperformingarts.com/whatiscolrgurard.html) and basketball along with all my school work. This subject always got me curious as my mom is always nagging at me to get more sleep.

The source https://sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need seems very professional as it gives you more links to branch off of if you have any questions as of four years ago. It is also a foundation that promotes more sleep through its research for the past 25 years into this article. 

This website showed me that not only does sleep vary by age but also by individuality. Some questions to ask yourself include:

1. Are you happy, healthy, and productive on 7 hours of sleep? Or do you need 9 hours of sleep to be in high gear?
2. Do you have health issues(Ex. overweight)? Are you at risk of any disease?
3. Are you experiencing sleeping problems?
4. Do you rely on caffeine to get you through the day?
5. Do you feel sleepy while driving?
   

While these individual problems play an important role, your age is the main thing that determines the amount of sleep you need. This is a summary of the age groups supposed necessary needed amount of sleep.

• Newborns (0-3 months): 14-17 hrs a day
• Infants (4-11 months): 12-15 hrs
• Toddlers (1-2 yrs): 11-14 hrs
• Preschoolers (3-5): 10-13 hrs
• School Age Children (6-13): 9-11 hrs
• Teenagers (14-17): 8-10 hrs
• Younger Adults (18-25): 7-9 hrs
• Adults (26-64): 7-9 hrs
• Older Adults (65+): 7-8 hrs
  

I don't know about you, but I'm definitely not getting my 8-10 hours of sleep. Maybe that's why me and my friends are always complaining to each other that we're so tired. Sleep hasn't really been my top priority lately, but after reading this article I will definitely make an effort to at least get 8 hours of sleep from here on out.