Read on to learn if you\u2019re getting adequate sleep.<\/p>\n Think of sleep as your internal housekeeping and maintenance system. Your brain and body can only perform many critical maintenance functions while you\u2019re asleep. However, the specific amount of sleep required varies from person to person. Do you really need 8 hours of sleep per night? Maybe. But it\u2019s also possible that you don\u2019t. It depends on each individual.<\/p>\n For instance, some people swear they need a solid 8 hours of sleep daily. On the other hand, others get by just fine with only 5, 6, or 7 hours.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to note that the amount of sleep you need to function optimally changes throughout your life, throughout different ages and stages of life.<\/p>\n According to the National Sleep Foundation<\/a>, the sleep duration ranges (for healthy people without sleep disorders) should be as follows:<\/p>\n Other factors that affect your sleep requirements include:<\/p>\n Here\u2019s why some individuals might require over 8 hours of shut-eye per night:<\/p>\n Sleep debt is the difference between the hours of sleep you should be getting and the hours you actually get. So, if you\u2019re supposed to clock 8 hours of sleep, and you only get 6, that can result in a two-hour sleep debt.<\/p>\n Different factors contribute to sleep debt. They include:<\/p>\n Even one hour of lost sleep can put you in sleep debt. Research<\/a> suggests that it takes 4 days of rest to pay back just one hour of sleep debt.<\/p>\n You won\u2019t function quite as well when you\u2019ve accumulated sleep debt. Thus when your body gets a chance, it\u2019ll want to catch up on sleep debt and sleep more than your usual sleep needs.<\/p>\n Needing more than 8 hours of sleep per night, and being still tired after 8 hours of sleep, could be due to sleep debt from a night\u2019s sleep cut short earlier in the week.<\/p>\n The message here is that one night of bad sleep, where your sleep was interrupted or cut short, could throw off your whole week.<\/p>\n Are you sluggish in the morning, even after sleeping for a full eight hours? Still tired after 8 hours of sleep? Do you feel lethargic all day? If you\u2019ve always needed more than 8 hours of sleep to feel refreshed, don\u2019t feel pressured to wake up earlier unless you have to. Some people require extra sleep to function at their best.<\/p>\n You may also be sleeping too much because of the following possible reasons:<\/p>\n Still tired after 8 hours of sleep, and not sure why? If you\u2019re wondering why you\u2019re still exhausted even after sleeping for 8 hours, here are the possible reasons why:<\/p>\n Do you hit the snooze button as soon as the alarm goes off? Or maybe you feel groggy or tired upon waking? You may have sleep inertia.<\/p>\n Sleep inertia is a temporary physiological state or feeling disoriented or groggy when you first wake up, which can trick you into thinking you need more sleep. Do you really need 8 hours of sleep or more? Or do you just have sleep inertia making you think you need more sleep?<\/p>\n Sleep inertia is the feeling of wanting to go right back to sleep the moment you wake up.<\/p>\n Some of the symptoms of sleep inertia are:<\/p>\n Generally, sleep inertia lasts anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes. You could power through sleep inertia rather than going back to sleep for more hours than you need. But prolonged sleep deprivation can add to the duration of sleep inertia, making it last several hours after waking.<\/p>\n In some instances, this can be dangerous, particularly if someone has to perform safety-critical activities, drive, or be on call. Severe sleep inertia impacts cognitive and motor skills, increasing the risk of errors and serious injuries.<\/p>\n Do you suspect you have sleep inertia? Try turning all the lights on, splashing some cold water on your face, and drinking a caffeinated beverage as soon as you wake up. Try a more gentle waking system such as a sunrise alarm that wakes you gradually with slowly increasing light and gentle sounds. Invest in blackout curtains to improve sleep quality, put new sheets on your bed for a cozier sleep, or get a new mattress to help kick sleep inertia to the curb.<\/p>\n Sleep efficiency can also contribute to morning fatigue if your sleep efficacy score is low. Do you really need 8 hours of sleep, or do you just need better sleep efficiency?<\/p>\n To find your sleep efficiency score, divide the amount of time you\u2019re actually asleep by the total time spent in bed.<\/p>\n Use a smartphone app to track your sleep and figure out your score. Apple Watches and other devices do this for you as well.<\/p>\n For instance, if you find out that you sleep five hours out of the eight hours spent in bed, your sleep efficiency is 62.5 percent. So how do you know what a normal score is? A good sleep efficiency is considered to be 85 percent or greater.<\/p>\n You can help your body power down, and consequently improve your sleep efficiency by improving your sleep hygiene<\/a>.<\/p>\n Do this by avoiding potential distractions or blue light in your bedroom an hour before bed. This means not using your phone in bed, switching off the TV, ensuring no music is playing, and turning off the lights. Read before bed<\/a> with a dim salt lamp or soft candlelight.<\/p>\n Developing a nighttime ritual. A relaxing activity like taking a warm bath before bed can improve your sleep efficiency score.<\/p>\n Your internal clock or \u2018circadian rhythm\u2019 tells you when to sleep and wake. But sometimes, your sleep habits may cause your circadian rhythm to get out of whack. This can leave you with the negative effects of poor sleep, like feeling exhausted in the morning.<\/p>\n You could notice nocturnal tendencies, similar to someone with \u2018shift work sleep disorder\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome\u2019 is a circadian rhythm disorder where people are fully nocturnal and can\u2019t fall asleep until it\u2019s near sunrise.<\/p>\n Circadian rhythm issues can sometimes be treated, and for others these circadian rhythm issues are very difficult to treat, but there are doctors and sleep clinics that can help.<\/p>\n Since your circadian rhythm responds to environmental cues like darkness and light, or sleep chemicals like melatonin, you can make the following lifestyle changes to help reset your internal clock and hopefully fix your sleep schedule<\/a>.<\/p>\n One study reveals that subpar sleep can affect your ability to remember information, communicate, and solve problems in the short term.<\/p>\n What else could happen if you don\u2019t get enough sleep? In the long term, sleep deprivation is linked to the following health conditions:<\/p>\n Oversleeping can have just as many detrimental effects as sleep deprivation. Consistently getting too much sleep can increase your risk of:<\/p>\n Imagine getting on by on only 6 hours of sleep, and waking up feeling refreshed. For a few lucky people, this is a reality. It\u2019s estimated that only 1 percent of the global population are short sleepers<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018Short Sleepers\u2019 are people who, thanks to their DNA, only need 5 – 7 hours of sleep per night for optimal function and optimal wellness. They do not need 8 hours of sleep per night.<\/p>\n Ying-Hui Fu, Ph.D. professor, and her fellow researchers discovered a \u201cshort sleep gene<\/a>\u201d known as DEC2 that was present in short-sleepers but not in those with normal length of sleep. The UCSF scientists have now identified a second gene<\/a>. Both genes leave people feeling well-rested after only 5 – 7 hours of sleep, sometimes less.<\/p>\n \u201cShort sleepers are very cheerful, optimistic, and energetic\u201d, says Fu. \u201cThey also have a higher pain tolerance and better memories. Thanks to their super-efficient sleep, short sleepers\u2019 bodies function at 100 percent or close to that daily.\u201d<\/p>\n Short sleepers don\u2019t intentionally avoid or restrict sleep. They also don\u2019t need to catch up on sleep or take naps. Moreover, short sleepers don\u2019t experience any side effects connected to sleep deprivation, despite sleeping for fewer hours.<\/p>\n Instead, they maintain good health, wake up ready to take on the world, and don\u2019t find themselves feeling lethargic.<\/p>\n So, do you really need 8 hours of sleep per night? Certainly not if you\u2019ve got the short sleeper gene.<\/p>\n Find out if you have the short sleep duration gene, and many other facts about yourself, by taking a CircleDNA test. This simple, at-home DNA test only requires a cheek swab. You can read about your genetic sleep traits<\/a><\/strong>, as well as many other interesting reports such as your genetic personality traits, genetic skin traits, genetic nutrition guidelines, and more.<\/p>\n Now we can finally answer the question, do you really need 8 hours of sleep, or is it a myth?<\/p>\n It\u2019s a myth. Not everyone needs 8 hours of sleep per night. Research<\/a> shows that the amount of sleep required to function at your peak is unique to everyone. As mentioned above, a majority of adults between the ages of 18 to 64 need 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. Some might only need 5 or 6, thanks to their genetics.<\/p>\n A simple way to determine your sleep needs is by being attentive to your energy levels, mood, and overall health. For example, if you feel fatigued frequently or you\u2019re noticing other symptoms caused by poor sleep, you may need to sleep more to ensure you\u2019re raring to go come the next day. You may also need to improve your sleep hygiene and sleep efficacy score to ensure the quality of your sleep is not the real issue.<\/p>\n Do you really need 8 hours of sleep? This is an incredibly common question, because some people think that the \u20188 hours of sleep per day\u2019 concept… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":2421,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1885,8516,5295,7977,4591,7956,8470,4339,551,4741,1883,1884],"class_list":["post-1214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-en","tag-8-hours-of-sleep-en","tag-at-home-dna-test","tag-cardiovascular","tag-family","tag-hours","tag-lifestyle","tag-news","tag-really","tag-sleep","tag-us-uncategorized","tag-ka-pei-yin","tag-ka-pei-yin-bu-nai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/circledna.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/content_images_2023_01_sleep-for-optimal-wellness.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nDo You Really Need 8 Hours of Sleep for Optimal Wellness?<\/h3>\n
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![](\"https:\/\/circledna.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/content_images_2023_01_higher-sleep-needs-3.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nHigher Sleep Needs: Why Do Some People Need More Than 8 Hours of Sleep?<\/h3>\n
Sleep Debt<\/h3>\n
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Your Sleep Need Might Be Over 8 Hours<\/h3>\n
Other Causes for Sleeping a Lot<\/h3>\n
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Why Am I Still Tired After 8 Hours of Sleep?<\/h3>\n
Sleep Inertia<\/h3>\n
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Sleep Efficiency<\/h3>\n
Circadian Rhythm Issues<\/h3>\n
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Is it Bad to Sleep Too Much or Too Little?<\/h3>\n
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Short Sleep Duration: Is It Possible to Function Normally on Less Sleep?<\/h3>\n
Is 8 Hours of Sleep A Myth?<\/h3>\n
References:<\/h3>\n
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