{"id":125,"date":"2016-12-07T15:07:27","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T15:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"\/knowledge-and-advice\/?p=125"},"modified":"2026-03-24T13:20:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T13:20:33","slug":"really-need-8-hours-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mattressonline.co.uk\/blog\/sleep-science\/really-need-8-hours-sleep\/","title":{"rendered":"Do I Really Need 8 Hours’ Sleep?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It's 4am. You're wide-awake. It's been another restless night.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You stare at your alarm clock in panic as the same thoughts race through your mind:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How am I going to stay awake in work tomorrow?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why can't I just go back to sleep?!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Photo by Sonja Langford<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

We need sleep. Like the air we breathe and the food we eat, it's essential to our health. Without it, we wouldn't last long!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, what is less clear is how much<\/em> sleep we should be getting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless you've been living under a rock your whole life, chances are you'll have heard that we should be getting eight hours' sleep every night. But is this really true?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to find out how certain factors, including your age, your genes - and even cultural attitudes - play a part in determining how much sleep you really need.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Segmented sleep<\/h2>\n\n\n

Did you know that up until the <\/span>17th Century<\/span><\/a> it was actually common to wake up in the middle of the night?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roger Ekirch<\/span><\/a>, a historian at Virginia Tech University, discovered a large body of evidence suggesting that humans before the Industrial Revolution slept in not one, but two chunks.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This pattern consisted of a \"first\" and a \"second\" sleep, with an hour or two of wakefulness just after midnight. It is believed that the human body has a natural preference for this segmented sleep pattern.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A relatively recent phenomenon, we now tend to sleep once within a 24-hour period. Erkirch suggests that artificial light and, sadly, cultural shifts in attitudes towards sleep as a \"necessary evil\" could be to blame.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

It could be in your genes<\/h2>\n\n\n

Too little sleep impacts our health, wellbeing and even life expectancy.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, <\/span>research<\/a> by Ying-Hui Fu at the University of California, San Francisco,<\/span> has found that a small group of people naturally sleep far less than what we may consider to be typical. Known as \"short-sleepers\", people within this population carry a genetic mutation that reduces their need for a longer sleep.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some people, this means sleeping for as little as <\/span>four hours<\/span><\/i> per night!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Your age<\/h2>\n\n\n

We change as we get older - and so does our need for sleep.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We snooze a <\/span>lot <\/span><\/i>as newborn babies: between 14 and 17 hours to be precise! By the time a child is school-aged, this drops to between 9 and 11 hours.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comparatively, an older adult may only need approximately seven hours per night.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Circadian rhythm<\/h2>\n\n\n

Our bodies usually know when to fall asleep and wake up.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Known as our sleep-wake cycle - or circadian rhythm - this clever internal clock helps us to feel sleepy when it's dark and alert when it's light.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generally speaking, our sleep requirement stabilises once we become young adults, around the age of 18. At this point, we usually start following a typical sleep-wake cycle of around seven to nine hours of sleep, followed by 15 to 17 hours of wakefulness.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Quality vs quantity<\/h2>\n\n\n

Today, we can measure practically anything about ourselves. We count our steps, our calories, our exercise - and now even the time we spend catching those 40 winks!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But sometimes, we can get so hung up about <\/span>quantity<\/span> <\/i>that we can forget about <\/span>quality<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about how you <\/span>feel <\/span>when you wake up<\/span>. Do you feel ready to start your day? Or are you tired and grumpy? Consider how many hours you slept for - and then try adjusting this the following night.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask yourself the following questions:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Is your bedroom dark and distraction-free? <\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Do you spend time relaxing before you go to bed? <\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Is your mattress and bed comfortable and supportive?<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Do you try to keep to a sleep schedule by going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    If you can answer \"yes\" to every one, you're on the right track to getting good quality sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We can all follow healthy habits to improve our quality of sleep - and in turn, improve our quality of life.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"\"
    Photo by Krista Mangulsone<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

    So how much sleep is enough?<\/h2>\n\n\n

    So do we really need eight hours' sleep? In short, the answer is no.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Whilst the norm for most adults is seven to nine hours, in reality we all need different amounts of sleep to feel rested and wake up feeling refreshed. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When it comes to sleep, we are all unique. There is no \"one-size-fits-all\"!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It’s 4am. You’re wide-awake. It’s been another restless night. You stare at your alarm clock in panic as the same thoughts race through your mind: How am I going to stay awake in work tomorrow? Why can’t I just go back to sleep?! We need sleep. Like the air we breathe and the food we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[18,24,30,16,23],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDo I Really Need 8 Hours' Sleep? | Mattress Online Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's likely you\u2019ll have heard that we should get eight hours sleep per night. But is this really true? 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