Most adults ages 18 to 64 need seven to nine hours of sleep a night, and adults 65 and older need seven to eight, according to the National Sleep Foundation's 10-year systematic review published in Sleep Health, the foundation's journal, in June 2026.
The review examined 133 meta-analyses covering up to 3,222 individual studies from the past decade and reaffirmed the age-based ranges the foundation first issued in 2015. Of the 133 meta-analyses, 74 percent were consistent with those numbers, and the foundation concluded that new science did not warrant a change.
The full age-by-age table
The foundation's age-based recommendations cover every stage of life. Individual needs vary, and people can function well at either end of a given range.
Age group Also read: Your tongue color could be an early sign of these deficiencies | Recommended hours per day |
|---|---|
Newborns (0-3 months) | 14-17 |
Infants (4-11 months) Also read: Melatonin linked to 90% higher heart failure risk | 12-15 |
Toddlers (1-2 years) | 11-14 |
Preschoolers (3-5 years) Also read: New study finds atherosclerosis in surprisingly young adults | 10-13 |
School-aged children (6-13 years) | 9-11 |
Teenagers (14-17 years) Also read: How to manage diarrhea at home | 8-10 |
Young adults (18-25 years) | 7-9 |
Adults (26-64 years) Also read: If you have sleep apnea and obesity, Zepbound may cut breathing disruptions by 60 percent | 7-9 |
Older adults (65+ years) | 7-8 |
Do women and men need different amounts?
One of the questions the 10-year review set out to answer was whether the sexes need different amounts of sleep. Of the 133 meta-analyses, 67 examined sex differences. The foundation reported that most found no evidence men and women need different amounts, and it concluded the current science does not support separate recommendations by sex.
"A decade of new research has meaningfully advanced what we know about sleep health," said Joseph M. Dzierzewski, senior vice president of research and scientific affairs at the National Sleep Foundation, in a statement announcing the review on June 10, 2026.
A third of American adults fall short
Most US adults miss those targets. Federal survey data cited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine put the share of adults reporting insufficient sleep at about 35 percent in CDC estimates, roughly 83.6 million people sleeping less than the recommended seven hours a night.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked routinely sleeping fewer than seven hours to higher risks of obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, stroke, frequent mental distress and all-cause mortality.
Signs you are undersleeping
The clearest signal is feeling tired during the day. Not getting enough sleep is a common cause of daytime fatigue and can leave people without energy for the things they enjoy.
Cognitive effects come next. As sleep debt builds, people become less alert and can struggle to multitask, concentrate or react quickly. Slower reaction times raise the risk of mistakes at work and on the road.
Mood follows. Short sleep can make a person feel more anxious, irritable or depressed, and can dial down motivation. Waking unrefreshed and nodding off unexpectedly during the day are additional warning signs.
If any of these signs are persistent, the recommendation is to speak with a physician rather than to self-treat. Chronic short sleep is also a marker for undiagnosed sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, which need medical assessment.
Hitting the number is not the whole picture either. Getting 8 hours may not be enough if the sleep is fragmented or short on the deeper stages the brain and body use to recover.
The National Sleep Foundation says its next update to the guidelines is due within the next decade, as new evidence accumulates.
This article is made and published by Jesper Bengtson, who may have used AI in the preparation.