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A sleep specialist reveals how to figure out exactly how much sleep you need every night

Sarah Schmalbruch   

A sleep specialist reveals how to figure out exactly how much sleep you need every night

The INSIDER Summary:

• To figure out how many hours of sleep you need, count back 7.5 hours from your normal wake up time and use that as your bed time for a week.
• If you're not waking up five minutes before your alarm after a week, push your bedtime back a half an hour and continue to do so until you can wake up without your alarm.
• This method won't work for people who are night owls or early birds.



When it comes to sleep, most people think of eight hours as the magic number.

But as it turns out, that number is just a myth.

Dr. Michael Breus, sleep specialist and author of "The Power of When," says that the average person only needs 7.5 hours of sleep a night.

Some people need more sleep, some people need less.

"I've been a 6.5 hour sleeper almost my entire life," Breus says. "But my wife needs 8.5. Everybody is different."

children kids

Fiona Goodall / Stringer / Getty Images

What's a sleep drive?

The reason for that is that sleep - specifically your sleep drive - is genetically predetermined, according to Breus.

Your sleep drive is a lot like your hunger drive. Just like your hunger drive makes you want to eat when you're feeling hungry, your sleep drive makes you want to sleep when you're feeling tired.

Your sleep drive also determines the speed at which you have a sleep cycle.

As a general reference, most people go through five 90-minute sleep cycles per night, Breus says. That's why the average person needs 7.5 hours of sleep. Five cycles of 90 minutes each works out to be 450 minutes in total, which is the equivalent of 7.5 hours. However, some people's cycles are longer or shorter.

When figuring out the ideal amount of sleep you need per night, Breus suggests starting with 7.5 hours as an approximation.

Alarm Clock

Brandi Redd / Unsplash

Use your alarm.

How to figure out your sleep drive:

Take the time that you usually wake up and count back 7.5 hours. So if you normally wake up at 7 a.m., you would need to go to bed at 11:30 p.m. to get 7.5 hours of sleep. Make it a point to go to bed at 11:30 p.m. for seven to 10 days.

Breus says that if by the end of those seven to 10 days, you're waking up around five minutes before your alarm goes off, 7.5 hours is your ideal amount of sleep.

If, however, your alarm is still waking you after those seven to 10 days, try going to bed half an hour earlier. Keep moving your bedtime up by 30 minutes until you wake up just before your alarm. The number of hours you end up with is how much your body needs.

Unfortunately this method won't work for everyone. According to Breus, about 50% of the population has what's called a chronotype. A chronotype refers to everyone's own biological clock - so when people are early birds or night owls, or just have trouble sleeping in general.

Man Waking Up Looking Out Window

fizkes / iStock

Not everyone can wake up early.

Night owls alnd early birds need to fit their lives to their chronotype:

Breus says that while people with a chronotype still need around 7.5 hours of sleep, they need to adjust the window of time in which they get that sleep. These people need to fit their lives to their chronotype, and not the other way around.

Breus uses himself as an example. He's a night owl and never goes to bed before midnight. Because of this, his whole day shifts later. He's found that he's way more productive when he does things later in the day, so he's adjusted accordingly.

Sleep is an important part of life, so be aware of your needs and respect them.

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