How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?

Did you know that not having a proper amount of sleep could harm your health as much as poor eating habits or not exercising enough? This has been stated lately by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.

Some health problems that could be caused by not having enough sleep are diabetes, obesity (although obesity has also been related with constant oversleeping for nine hours or more) and heart disease. Cognitive impairment is also caused by lack of sleep as well as an increased risk of having accidents like car crashes.

How some of these problems develop? Not having the needed sleep increases the stress hormones levels as well as other hormones like those that regulate hunger. This results in overeating and gaining pounds.

The recommended amount of sleep is seven to eight hours. But problems can start just by cutting this time short for more than an hour. More than thirty percent of adults in North America report that they sleep less than seven hours. What is worrying is that the amount of people that report getting less than six hours of sleep is on the rise. It is wrong to think that as long as you can function, you are having enough sleep.

Key Points:

  • 1Lack of sleep can be just as detrimental to your health as eating unhealthy foods or not getting enough exercise.
  • 2Without the proper amount of restful sleep, you may still experience many health problems even if you are a balanced eater and lead an active lifestyle.
  • 3Every adult person needs at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep to function in a productive, stress free and safe manner.


Missing out on needed sleep leads to higher levels of stress hormones and the hormones that regulate hunger.
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HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

lilybuckland809
11. August 2017
lilybuckland809
11. August 2017
I read at many places that we do not need exactly 7-8 hours of sleep a day. Sleep depend on person to person some stay healthy and fit even after 5 hours of sleep and some need minimum 8 hours of sleep to wake up fresh!

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Written by HealthStatus
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HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

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