“I have a love/ hate relationship with sleep,” I think as I write this blog post late on a Wednesday night. Somedays, I can sleep from 3:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., only getting five hours of sleep which is three whole hours less than the recommended, and feel great the next day, full of energy and happiness. Somedays (usually the weekends), I can sleep a total of ten hours, and feel sluggish and unproductive for the rest of the day. And then other days, the complete opposite will happen to me, where the more sleep I get the better I feel. So what is the recommended amount of sleep for our age group? Do I need that much sleep? What will happen if I don’t get that specific amount of hours of sleep? Is it the same for everyone? Why can I feel okay on less sleep and sluggish with more sleep?

According to the National Sleep Foundation, young adults and also adults until the age of 65 should get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night. Of course, these numbers change for children, who should get around 9 to 11 hours of sleep per night, and elderly people, who only need around 7 or 8 hours per night. Under the “may be appropriate” column (aka, depending on the specific person’s need for sleep, it says that 10 to 11 hours of sleep may be appropriate for 18 and 19-year-olds. Under the “not recommended” column, it says less than 6 hours and more than 11 hours are not recommended, which is usually about where I fall because I guess I like to hit both extremes sometimes. I will occasionally hit that perfect 7 hours of sleep mark and feel great the next day, but unfortunately, I only get between five and six hours of sleep per night. What happens to my mental state and my body when I do not get these magic 7-9 hours of sleep? And why is it bad if I get more than 11 hours of sleep? I thought sleep was good for you!

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So it depends on the person if they decide they feel the healthiest on 7 hours of sleep, that is scientifically okay. If one needs more sleep than that, 11 hours is perfectly okay too. So when I fall out of this recommended zone, what happens to my body? Mentally, sleep loss over time also known as sleep deprivation causes serious problems. Sleep deprivation can cause depression, forgetfulness, loss of proper judgement, and lack of alertness. Because sleep solidifies knowledge learned during the day and stores it away to memory while you are asleep, sleep is extremely important when it comes to memory, cognitive function, and test taking the for the next day. As far as physical health goes, sleep deprivation can cause some serious damage. Heart disease, Heart attacks, heart failure, high blood pressure, strokes, diabetes, early ageing of the skin, and weight gain are some of the negative effects to not getting the proper amount of sleep each night. This is enough to convince me to make sleep a priority! So what happens to my body when I oversleep? And is it harmful?

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Sleeping too much can also cause depression. It can also lead to heart disorders, back pain, diabetes, feeling tired, unrefreshed and demotivated, decline in cognitive function, and earlier death! So the effects of oversleeping are very similar to not getting enough sleep, so it is important to hit that target 7-9 hours, depending on your preference. Harvard Health says that both too little and too much sleep affects memory. “Our findings suggest that getting an ‘average’ amount of sleep, seven hours per day, may help maintain memory in later life and that clinical interventions based on sleep therapy should be examined for the prevention of [mental] impairment,” said study leader Elizabeth Devore, an instructor in medicine at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

I agree with what these sources say because I learned about sleep cycles in my psychology class last year, and that the reason you can sometimes feel refreshed after only a few hours of sleep is due to sleep cycles.  If you wake up naturally during a period of your sleep cycle where you are in a light sleep (Not REM), you may feel awake and happy only after five hours of sleep. If you are violently awoken by your alarm while your are in a period of deep REM sleep, you may feel sluggish after even 11 hours of sleep. There are technically five levels or stages of sleep. Sleepiness, light sleep, deep sleep (3&4), and Rapid Eye Movement sleep, which is the deepest level of sleep. The best is to be naturally woken during a light sleep period. There is an amazing App  that will take a 30 minute period of when you want to wake up, monitor your motions during the night by laying the phone on your bed, and then ring an alarm when you are in your lightest cycle of sleep so you ultimately feel more refreshed every day.

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So how can you help you mind and body by getting the perfect amount of sleep for you each night? Harvard Health has a few tips to help out. Establish a regular bedtime so your body is used to falling asleep at the same time every night, so you can fall asleep faster, therefore maximizing your sleeping time. Avoid doing homework in bed- make your bed for sleeping purposes only. Get some exercise during the day so you release energy and stress, which helps you fall asleep faster. Complete stressful tasks in the beginning of the day and leave the easier tasks to complete for later in the afternoon. Don’t drink caffeine after 2:00 p.m. And finally, make sure your room is pitch-black so you can get a good night’s rest, because we learned in class that dim lighting (from a television or cell phone), may lead to depression and a lower quality of sleep, so it is worth shutting it all down.