The National Sleep Foundation conducts a 10-year review of 133 meta-analyses for insights into whether the science has evolved.
Key takeaways:
- The National Sleep Foundation published a 10-year review affirming its 2015 age-specific sleep duration recommendations for all life stages.
- After reviewing 133 meta-analyses, researchers found insufficient evidence to warrant unique sleep duration recommendations for females and males.
- The recommendations emphasize that sleep duration is only one component of overall sleep health, which also includes quality, regularity, and daytime functioning.
The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) published a 10-year review of its 2015 sleep duration recommendations, affirming that a decade of new science continues to support the original guidelines. The update also addresses a frequently asked question: Do women and men need different amounts of sleep?
Published in Sleep Health, the review examined 133 meta-analyses encompassing up to 3,222 individual studies. The findings confirm the age-specific, evidence-based guidance on sleep duration for every stage of life, from newborns to older adults, originally established by the organization.
“A decade of new research has meaningfully advanced what we know about sleep health. NSF’s sleep duration recommendations reflect that evidence and demonstrate our commitment to keeping recommendations current and aligned with the science. At the same time, this review shows the core message remains unchanged: getting the right amount of sleep is essential for health,” says Joseph M. Dzierzewski, PhD, the study’s lead author and senior vice president of research and scientific affairs at the National Sleep Foundation, in a release.
The following recommendations are reaffirmed for each life stage:
- Newborns (0–3 months): 14–17 hours
- Infants (4–11 months): 12–15 hours
- Toddlers (1–2 years): 11–14 hours
- Preschoolers (3–5 years): 10–13 hours
- School-aged children (6–13 years): 9–11 hours
- Teenagers (14–17 years): 8–10 hours
- Young adults (18–25 years): 7–9 hours
- Adults (26–64 years): 7–9 hours
- Older adults (65+ years): 7–8 hours
These ranges recognize that sleep needs vary across individuals. The NSF notes that some people can function at the lower or upper end of a range due to biological, psychological, and social differences. The review also highlights a need for more research in early childhood sleep, as fewer meta-analyses exist for newborns, infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
Of the 133 meta-analyses included in the review, 67 reported on sex differences. While studies routinely document small differences in sleep durations between men and women—with women sleeping slightly longer on average—the majority found no evidence that males and females have different actual sleep needs. Only 15% of meta-analyses highlighted statistically significant sex differences, and these often pointed to minor differences in correlates of sleeping too little or too much rather than differences in sleep need.
Consequently, the NSF concluded the current science does not support separate sleep duration recommendations for women compared to men. The authors caution against making firm claims regarding sex differences in sleep need or the impact of short or long sleep duration on health outcomes based on current data. Importantly, the NSF emphasizes that sleep duration is only one component of sleep health, which also includes sleep quality, regularity, satisfaction, behaviors, and daytime functioning.
