Sleep is very important. Did you know that sleep is more important than food? A person who does not sleep dies faster than a person who does not eat.
Let's say you go to sleep 12 hours late. It will take your body about three weeks to return to normal. We spend about a third (1/3) of our lives in sleep. That's about 121 days a year!
How much sleep do we need? We are all different. A babr needs 16 hours of sleep every day. Children 6 to 12 years old need an average of 10 to 12 hours of sleep. Teenagers need 9 to 10 hours of sleep. An adult needs an averge of 7 to 8 hours a night. There are some people who need only 3 hours of sleep. Others need 10 hours of sleep. After the age of 50, the average sleep time goes dowm to 6.5 hours a night. We need less sleep as we get older.
Most people have some nights when they cannot sleep. About one in three Americans has a probleem with sleep. Many of these people cannot fall asleep. The name of this problem is insomnia. The word insomnia means "no sleep." Some people say, "I didn't sleep all night." But that's not really true. They may sleep lightly and were up several times. In the morning, they only remember the times they were awake, so they think they were awake all night.