Does everyone need eight hours of sleep? We asked five experts

How much sleep we need depends on us as individuals and varies by age. from www.shutterstock.com

Alexandra Hansen, The Conversation, Chelsie Rohrscheib, Crystal Yates, Gorica Micic, Hailey Meaklim, Stephanie Centofanti

Author

Alexandra Hansen
Deputy Editor and Chief of Staff, The Conversation AUNZ

Interviewed

Chelsie Rohrscheib
Postdoctoral fellow and Sleep Specialist, The University of Queensland
Crystal Yates
Postdoctoral Researcher, Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory, University of South Australia
Gorica Micic
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Clinical Psychologist, Flinders University
Hailey Meaklim
Sleep Psychologist and Researcher, The University of Melbourne
Stephanie Centofanti
Research Fellow, Sleep & Chronobiology Laboratory, Behaviour-Brain-Body Research Centre, University of South Australia

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Many of us try to live by the mantra eight hours of work, eight hours of leisure, eight hours of rest. Conventional wisdom has long told us we need eight hours of sleep per day, but some swear they need more, and some (politicians, mostly) say they function fine on four or five.

So is the human brain wired to require eight hours, or is it different for everyone? We asked five experts if everyone needs eight hours of sleep per day.

Five out of five experts said no

Here are their detailed responses:

If you have a “yes or no” health question you’d like posed to Five Experts, email your suggestion to: alexandra.hansen@theconversation.edu.au

Disclosures: Hailey Meaklim is the recipient of an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.

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