What Your Body is Saying About Your Sleep Needs

After looking at the research, the next step in identifying your sleep need is taking a "snapshot" of your sleeping habits. Ellen began this process by looking qualitatively at each family member's sleep habits and their behaviors during the day. Here’s what she found:

Her teenage daughter was a lot of fun to be around at night – she was energetic and in high spirits, chatting with her family during dinner, talking on the phone with friends, playing on her computer and squeezing in an hour of TV. Whenever Ellen would try and get her off to bed, she’d complain that she didn’t feel tired. Nevertheless, when her alarm would usher in another day of high school at 6:30 am, Ellen’s daughter Terri was NOT fun to be around. Irritable, tired and unhappy, Terri would head off to school with a bad start to the day, not to mention the fact that she had difficulty staying awake in her classes. What Ellen and Terri may not know is that Terri's biology and age play a large role in her sleep habits. As a teenager, her circadian rhythms are geared to stay up later in the evening and to wake later in the morning. As a result, a 10 o' clock bedtime may feel too early to her body, and a 6:30 am wake time certainly doesn't fit her current sleep/wake schedule. But the biggest problem is that adolescents still need lots of sleep – at least nine hours every night and it is hard to get that much when biology says "stay up late" and school says "start early."

Ellen never thought that her young son could be sleep deprived. After all, she thought, sleep deprivation occurs when you’re a "night owl" teenager or over-worked adult, not a four year-old! What Ellen may not know is that children need much more sleep than their adult counterparts to be well-rested. Experts estimate that preschoolers (3 to 5 years-old) need 11-13 hours of sleep, while school-aged children up to age 12 need approximately 10-11 hours of sleep. Ellen’s son Josh frequently adapts to his family’s late-night schedule and doesn’t usually take naps – in fact, when he falls asleep in the car, it is usually past his bedtime or the day after getting too little sleep. As a result of "going along with the family routine," he’s often shortchanged on sleep. Unfortunately, it shows up in whiny behavior and even tantrums that he has otherwise outgrown.

As a mother of two in her forties, Ellen is used to sacrificing her own sleep needs for that of her family’s. She squeezes in a busy day at work and has lots to do around the house, not to mention spending time with her children and husband. By day’s end she feels exhausted, but hasn’t had time to herself and doesn’t want to sleep. As a woman, Ellen has also had unique sleep experiences from those of her family members. Ellen’s sleeping habits have undergone many changes throughout her life. As a pregnant woman her sleep needs changed with each trimester, and she battled common sleep problems during pregnancy such as heartburn, leg cramps and snoring. As Ellen approaches menopause, she will face new sleep challenges like hot flashes and may experience insomnia.

Ellen’s husband Roger is a busy executive who often spends early mornings and late nights working. When he’s not working he’s often thinking about working, and this has led to a lot of insomnia and sleeplessness nights. Roger’s sleep deprivation is starting to show – he has difficulty enjoying time with his family and has lost his desire to exercise as he used to. This pattern forms a vicious cycle because the less Roger sleeps the more likely he is to eat. Research has found links between appetite increase and sleep deprivation due to hormones that are produced when you're short on sleep. This can not only lead to gaining weight, but his sleep deprivation and weight gain could lead to serious health problems like the onset of sleep apnea, hypertension, heart attack, diabetes and stroke. Roger knows that most adults need 7-9 hours to feel well-rested, but he has trouble "turning off" his mind at the end of the day to get the sleep he needs.

Ellen's aging father has Parkinson's disease and faces a number of unique challenges related to his sleep. Regardless of his illness, as an older adult his sleep is different than when he was younger. For example, elderly people tend to spend very little time in deep sleep and are more easily aroused or awakened. Nevertheless, their average total sleep time increases slightly after age 65, but many older adults divide their sleep between daytime naps and nighttime sleep. Napping, though, may decrease the need to sleep at night and some older people complain of difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. Lack of exercise may also take a toll on elder sleep and medications may make a person feel drowsy and wanting to sleep during the day. These problems should be discussed with a physician.

As you can see, sleep needs vary across ages and are especially impacted by lifestyle and health. Thus, to determine how much sleep you need, it's important to assess not only where you fall on the "sleep needs spectrum," but also to examine what lifestyle factors are affecting the quality and quantity of your sleep such as work schedules and stress. To get the sleep you need, you must look at the big picture.

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