The importance of sleep can be seen from the fact that people spend about one-third of their lifespan in sleep. Research has shown that bad sleep can affect not only a person’s physical and mental health, but also impair civilized behavior and moral judgment. So, what is the purpose of sleep?

 In addition to its primary function of providing rest and restoring the body’s energy levels, sleep has been associated with processing organizational information, word recognition and problem solving. At the biological level, sleep is essential for the immune system and its deficiency causes the body becomes more vulnerable to infection and disease. Moreover, sleep is also a time of rest and repair for neurons and many hormones are also timed to be release during sleep or right before sleep. For example, growth hormones are released during sleep and are vital for child growth and restorative processes like muscle repair.

How much sleep does the human body require?

Infants - About 16 hours per day

Babies and toddlers - From 6 months to 3 years: between 10 and 14 hours per day.

Children – Between 3 and 12 years: 9-12 hours per day

Teenagers - About 9 hours of sleep per night.

Adults - 7 to 8 hours of sleep