text: Researchers report wider range of acceptable sleep amounts
  11-Feb-2015 10:00 AM EST
  Sleep, Local - Illinois, Local - Chicago Metro, All Journal News
  Sleep, sleep 2015
  Newswise — MAYWOOD, Il. -- Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine researcher Lydia DonCarlos, PhD, is a member of an expert panel that's making new recommendations on how much sleep people need.
  Dr. DonCarlos and other experts on the multidisciplinary panel examined findings from 320 studies reporting sleep duration findings for healthy individuals, effects of reduced or prolonged sleep duration and health consequences of too much or too little sleep. Results are published in Sleep Health: Journal of the National Sleep Foundation. "The process was very rigorous," Dr. DonCarlos said. Dr. DonCarlos is a professor in the Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.
  In addition to serving on the National Sleep Foundation expert panel, Dr. DonCarlos serves on the National Institutes of Health's Neuroendocrinology, Neuroimmunology, Rhythms and Sleep (NNRS) study section, which reviews applications for research grants."We still have a great deal to learn about the function of sleep," Dr. DonCarlos said. "We know it's restorative and important for memory consolidation. But we don't know the details of what the function of sleep is, even though it is how we spend one-third of our lives."
  These are the sleep-time recommendations from the National Sleep Foundation expert panel: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).