The CDC's floor for adults is at least 7 hours - most adults do best at 7 to 9, teens need 8 to 10, school-age kids 9 to 12.
The personal test beats the population number: you have enough when you wake without an alarm, function without caffeine heroics, and do not crash on weekends. Retire the myth: genuine short sleepers are rare, and chronic sub-7 sleep ties to heart disease, weight gain, mood problems, and impaired driving. Consistency is half the answer - same hours, same times.
What to do
Common questions
How much sleep do I actually need?
The CDC sets the adult floor at at least 7 hours each day, with most adults landing in the 7-to-9 range - and the agency counts anything under 7 as insufficient sleep. The numbers scale steeply by age: teenagers need 8 to 10 hours, school-age children 9 to 12, and younger kids more still. The honest personal test beats the population number: your requirement is the amount at which you wake without an alarm, function without caffeine heroics, and do not crash on weekends - a person who sleeps six and a half hours and needs Saturday to recover is not a six-and-a-half-hour person. The myth worth retiring: genuine short sleepers exist but are rare - most people who claim to thrive on 5 or 6 hours are running on adaptation, and the performance and health data say otherwise; chronic short sleep ties to heart disease, weight gain, mood problems, and impaired driving. Consistency is the other half of the answer: the same 7.5 hours at the same times beats an alternating 6 and 10. Pymander, a free AI doctor available 24/7 by text, can help you find your real number.