An Explanation of How Much Sleep People Should Get and Why They Are Not

Aaron Carroll of Healthcare Triage discusses many of the confusing theories about how much sleep a person needs, what studies have been done, how much sleep is too much, how much is too little, or if it’s all a matter of genetics anyway.

A New Yorker article summarized much of the research on sleep in genetics and posited that about eighty percent of the variation of peoples need for sleep is genetic. So maybe you’re not getting enough sleep if you’re getting less than six to seven hours a night. That’s probably not enough but if you feel great you’re doing well don’t sweat it. Don’t force yourself to get more just because of some published average.