How Much Sleep Do You Need by Age?

Sleep needs change with age. Newborns need much more sleep than adults, while most adults should regularly allow at least seven hours. These are population guidelines, not a diagnosis of what one person must sleep every night.

Recommended sleep duration by age

The table follows CDC daily sleep recommendations, including naps where noted.

Age	Recommended sleep per 24 hours
0–3 months	14–17 hours
4–12 months	12–16 hours, including naps
1–2 years	11–14 hours, including naps
3–5 years	10–13 hours, including naps
6–12 years	9–12 hours
13–17 years	8–10 hours
18–60 years	7 or more hours
61–64 years	7–9 hours
65 years and older	7–8 hours

The newborn range comes from broader public-health guidance because the AASM pediatric consensus begins at four months.

How to use the table

Treat the range as a planning baseline. A schedule should create enough time in bed to cover both the desired sleep duration and the time normally spent falling asleep or awake during the night. See time in bed versus time asleep.

For an adult who needs to wake at 7:00 AM, selecting a calculator row that represents only six hours does not become adequate merely because it aligns with a predicted cycle. Use the bedtime calculator to compare times, then choose a duration that meets your needs.

For an eight-hour adult sleep target and 15 minutes to fall asleep, a 7 AM alarm means getting into bed at 10:45 PM the night before. That plans eight hours asleep before allowing for awakenings. Eight hours is not one of the tool's cycle-block rows; the guide to choosing a bedtime explains how to work backward directly.

If your recorded sleep repeatedly falls below the target you choose, use the sleep debt calculator to total the gap across the last seven nights.

That total is a simplified comparison, not a measure of your exact biological need. Read what sleep debt means before treating a weekly shortfall as a precise balance.

Why individual needs vary

Age is only one influence. Illness, pregnancy, sleep debt, activity, medications, and sleep disorders can affect sleep and daytime functioning. Feeling alert is useful context, but it does not replace professional assessment when symptoms persist.

Children’s sleep includes naps at younger ages, so parents should interpret the recommendation across the full day rather than nighttime alone. The generic 90-minute calculator is not a baby or child sleep schedule; use age-appropriate guidance and seek individualized advice when needed.

Signs the schedule deserves attention

Consider discussing sleep with a clinician when a person regularly has enough opportunity to sleep but still has severe daytime sleepiness, persistent difficulty sleeping, loud snoring or breathing pauses, or major changes in sleep need. Urgent safety concerns—such as drowsy driving—should not wait for a calculator adjustment.

Sources

• American Academy of Sleep Medicine: Child sleep duration recommendations
• CDC: About Sleep