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Everyone knows that a good amount of sleep is vital and sometimes I try to squeeze as much as possible into a day and forget the importance of rest.  It turns out there is a simple rule for how much sleep you should get and several reasons as to why it is so important.

                First of all it is important that you understand that according to Melinda Smith, M.A., Lawrence Robinson, and Robert Segal, the authors of How Much Sleep Do You Need? Sleep Cycles and Stages, Lack of Sleep and Getting the Hours you Need, “the quality of your sleep directly affects the quality of your waking life, including your mental sharpness, productivity, emotional balance, creativity, physical vitality, and even your weight.” To reap these positive benefits of sleep you must get a proper amount of sleep and an efficient sleep cycle so your brain can get the time it needs to restore your body.  A person’s average sleep needs, according to their age, are displayed in the table below.

Average Sleep Needs
Age	Hours
Newborns (0-2 months)	12 - 18
Infants (3 months to 1 year)	14 - 15
Toddlers (1 to 3 years)	12 - 14
Preschoolers (3 to 5 years)	11 - 13
School-aged children (5 to 12 years)	10 - 11
Teens and preteens (12 to 18 years)	8.5 - 10
Adults (18+)	7.5 - 9

§                                                                                                                                                       So we know how important sleep is and we know how many hours we are meant to sleep every night.  However, people don’t get enough sleep a lot of the time and don’t realize they are sleep deprived so the question is how do you know if you are sleep deprived? According to previously listed article, you may be sleep deprived if you “need an alarm clock in order to wake up on time, rely on the snooze button, have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, or feel sluggish in the afternoon.”  They also mention that if you “get sleepy in meetings, lectures, or warm rooms, get drowsy after heavy meals or when driving, need to nap to get through the day, fall asleep while watching TV or relaxing in the evening, feel the need to sleep in on weekends, or fall asleep within five minutes of going to bed” you may be sleep deprived.

In conclusion, if you are not getting at least around the average sleep needs of your age group and you show any of the mentioned signs of sleep deprivation, be sure to re-establish your sleep-cycle so your body gets the time it needs to recover from the day.