Making Sleep a Priority: How Many Hours of Sleep is Enough for a Student?

July 2, 2024

How often do you hear words like sleep deprivation, sleep disorder, or simply difficulty in falling asleep?

To most of us, these terms are quite familiar. And unfortunately, many of us are trying to LIVE WITH IT!

In India, almost 33% of our adult population suffers from insomnia. And while we adults struggle with a good night’s sleep, we also fail to create good sleep patterns in our child’s life.

Let’s discuss this issue in detail today. And help you reset the lost sleep patterns of your students/kids well in time. Be with us to explore how many hours of sleep is enough for a student. And get ready to guide the youngsters towards a healthier lifestyle.

Before we get down to the information part, let’s look at some eye-opening facts!

Sleep-Related Facts About Indian Students

India is the 2^nd most sleep-deprived country in the world (with an average of 7 hours 1 minute), next only to Japan.
As per a study, 8.6% of students between 9 to 17 years take over 30 minutes to fall asleep.
During exams, Indian students tend to be even more sleep-deprived. The table below shows these patterns (according to a survey):

Sleep Hours	%
5 to 7 hours	53%
3 to 5 hours	18%
Less than 7 hours	70%

Sleep patterns of Indian students as per number of hours | How Many Hours of Sleep is Enough

After these alarming facts, let’s discuss the implications of sleep deprivation first to understand how many hours of sleep is enough for a student. Read on to know the importance of sleep for students.

What is the Importance of Sleep for Students?

Many times, we discuss how much sleep is necessary for students. But we miss out on the most important part, i.e. the importance of sleep for students. Experts have proved that sleep is imperative for learning. In fact, it is interesting to know that a student can get the full impact of learning only after getting proper sleep. Here’s a look at some research findings to back this information.

Slow wave sleep (SWS) helps in the formation and retention of our memories. This includes grammar, vocabulary or any topic that leads to knowledge acquisition.
SWS establishes an interaction between other parts of the brain namely hippocampus (brain region associated with memory), and neocortex (manages high-order brain functions like problem-solving), that in turn helps in consolidating knowledge for a long-term recall.

In this way, sleep helps in storing information in our brains for future reference. Let’s now discuss the burning issue, how many hours a student should sleep?

How Many Hours Should a Student Sleep in a Day?

The table below shows the recommended amount of sleep for each age group.

Age group	Recommended Number of hours
0 – 3 months	14 to 17
4 – 11 months	12 to 15
1 – 2 years	11 to 14
3 – 5 years	10 to 13
6 – 12 years	9 to 12
13 – 18 years	8 to 10
18 – 60 years	7 to 9
Above 61 years	7 to 8

How Can Online Students Improve Their Sleep?

Relaxation Practices

Once you know how many hours of sleep is enough for a student, start with some relaxation practices like yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, etc., to keep sleep disorders at bay.

Try Deliberate Unplugging

Simply knowing how much sleep is necessary for students is not enough for us. Instead, we need to plan a balanced lifestyle for our younger generations to make more room for physical activities and recreation. Digital detox and unplugging from social media is a great start to make students understand the importance of sleep for students. Setting limits for the everyday use of social media and switching off WIFI (and mobile data) for some hours is imperative to enjoy a sound sleep at night. Replace this time for power naps, indoor/outdoor games, sports, gym activities, swimming, and reading books, etc. Try these simple lifestyle changes and reset the upset sleep schedules back to normal.

Before we move on with the information about how many hours of sleep is enough for a student, here’s an interesting fact for you!

WIFI routers, smartphones, tablets, etc. emit invisible rays that can hinder the brain signals that reduce melatonin (sleep hormone).

Get the Power Naps Right!

If you are able to set the right sleeping schedule (after understanding how much sleep is necessary for students?), you can further boost their brain power by aligning some time of the day for napping.

Most of us undermine the power of naps for students. But in reality, there are many benefits of these naps that we fail to acknowledge.

The brain size of people who take naps multiple times in a week is 15 cubic cm (0.9 cubic inches), more than the size of the people who do not take these naps. This can help in delaying brain ageing by almost 3 to 6 years.

Do you know that even short naps of 15 minutes each can affect one’s mental performance instantly?

And it is even more astonishing to note that the mental stimulus of this short nap extends to up to 3 hours after waking up. Try to incorporate power naps into everyday schedules and take extra effort in choosing a school with realistic study timings.

Manage Lifestyle and Food Intake

Understanding how many hours a student should sleep and creating a schedule is a holistic process that involves multiple lifestyle choices. Caffeine, sugar, soda, chocolate, pizza, high-fat foods, cola, and heavy spicy food can be the culprits for sure.

Switch to healthier and lighter options, and do not let these cravings sabotage sleep.

While decoding how many hours a student should sleep, you must also consider the student’s/kid’s physical activity. A good amount of physical activity will promote sleep. So ditch those TV shows and plan garden walks, sports time, or simply take up dancing to add this missing element.

Quick Tips

Keep bedtime regular and similar each day
Use dim lights and keep the bedroom cool
Pay attention to furnishings and keep them comfy
Model the right behavior and avoid alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, etc. to promote a healthy lifestyle
Avoid late-night socializing as much as you can

Final Thoughts

We hope this information about how much sleep is necessary for students helped in pinpointing the workable areas in your child/student’s life. Don’t let a good night’s sleep be a dream, rather get the basics right and kick start the day with a supercharged energetic brain!

Thanks for Reading!

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 5 hours of sleep enough for a student?
To know how many hours a student should sleep, we must refer to the recommended sleep hours suggested by experts. For school-going kids, a minimum of 10 to 12 hours of sleep time is recommended.
What is the healthy sleep hours for students?
Students must sleep for more than 10 to 12 hours, depending on their exact age.
How many hours do top students sleep?
Many times, toppers ignore the importance of sleep for students and cut down on their sleep time to 6 or 7 hours only. However, this is neither healthy nor recommended for them.
How long is a power nap?
A power nap can last from 10 to 30 minutes.