New sleep times recommended by experts
A significant number of New Zealanders aren't getting enough sleep, if new guidelines by the US-based National Sleep Foundation (NSF) are anything to go by.
The NSF, considered the leading authority on sleep, has updated its official recommendations after convening an 18-member panel. It included six sleep specialists and experts from 12 health organisations, such as the American Academy of Paediatrics, American Neurological Association and the American Geriatrics Society.
The panel reviewed over 300 recent studies into sleep and then voted on how much sleep is appropriate at different age brackets across a lifespan.
The recommended sleep times are:
- Newborns (0-3 months): Sleep range narrowed to 14-17 hours each day (previously it was 12-18)
- Infants (4-11 months): Sleep range widened two hours to 12-15 hours (previously it was 14-15)
- Toddlers (1-2 years): Sleep range widened by one hour to 11-14 hours (previously it was 12-14)
- Preschoolers (3-5): Sleep range widened by one hour to 10-13 hours (previously it was 11-13)
- School age children (6-13): Sleep range widened by one hour to 9-11 hours (previously it was 10-11)
- Teenagers (14-17): Sleep range widened by one hour to 8-10 hours (previously it was 8.5-9.5)
- Younger adults (18-25): Sleep range is 7-9 hours (new age category)
- Adults (26-64): Sleep range did not change and remains 7-9 hours
- Older adults (65+): Sleep range is 7-8 hours (new age category)
Charles A. Czeisler, NSF chairman of the board, said this was the first time any professional organisation had developed age-specific recommended sleep durations based on the world's scientific literature linking sleep duration to health, performance and safety.
And according to the Sleep/Wake Research Centre at Massey University, there's no reason why these guidelines shouldn't apply to Kiwis.
New Zealand does not have its own guidelines for sleep, says Professor Philippa Gander, director of the centre. "I'd suggest it makes good sense to follow the National Sleep Foundation's guidelines. I think that this is the best information we've got."
She says the recommendations are "very sound" and fit with international studies that show sleeping less than seven hours, or more than nine, puts people at greater risk of developing obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
"There's more and more thought that there are essential processes going on in sleep, particularly metabolic processes. And if you don't get enough sleep on a regular basis, you're potentially having a major impact on health in the longer term."
Gander says results of a national survey of New Zealand adults first published in 2003 showed 31 per cent of Maori were getting less than seven hours sleep a night, and 24 per cent of non-Maori were getting less than seven hours a night.
The same survey found that 56 per cent of Maori were getting between seven to nine hours sleep (the recommended amount), while 68 per cent of non-Maori were getting that amount.
While those figures suggest the majority of New Zealanders are getting adequate sleep, Gander reads it differently.
"What we're seeing is a third or more of New Zealanders not getting enough sleep," she says, "and those are very big numbers when you consider that being outside of the range is going to have an impact on your health long-term.
"It suggests that this is a fairly prevalent problem in New Zealand. It's one of those public health issues that's only starting to come above the radar."
We take sleep for granted and this is concerning, says Gander.
"With all the pressures of modern life we think we'll get more out of life by cutting back on sleep. But the No 1 message that's coming out of the last 50 years of sleep research is that we pay a price for not getting enough sleep."
As well as the health impacts over a long amount of time, we pay a price in terms of how we function and feel when we're awake.
"If affects your emotional status, your ability to perform any number of tasks and affects your ability to reason," says Gander.
She sums it up by saying there are three important requirements for good health.
"We all know the first two – diet and exercise. But the third factor is sleep – that's the message now clearly coming through."
Written by Aileen Nakhle. This article first appeared on Stuff.co.nz.
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