Generally, newborns sleep about eight hours during the day and about eight to nine hours at night. By the time they’re 1 year old, babies typically sleep about three hours during the day and 11 hours at night.
“As infants, we need almost 20 hours of sleep, with a lot of slow-wave sleep and rapid eye movement [REM] sleep,” says Alex Dimitriu, MD, double board-certified in psychiatry and sleep medicine and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine in California.
Slow-wave sleep is the deepest phase of non-rapid eye movement sleep and is considered important for consolidating memories. REM sleep is a light sleep when dreams occur and the eyes move quickly back and forth.
You need a lot of these deep types of sleep when you’re younger because of the significant brain development and learning happening at these ages, says Dr. Dimitriu.
Over time, the amount of sleep you need shortens, with adolescents needing about nine to nine and a half hours (usually, all at night). After puberty, adolescents’ internal clocks also shift by about two hours, so a teen who used to fall asleep at 9 p.m. may not be able to do so until 11 p.m. as they grow older.
“Adolescent sleep behavior is poorly understood, but scientists know the circadian rhythm and executive function sections are undergoing rapid maturation at different rates for each person,” says Dr. Carstensen.
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