National Sleep Foundation's updated sleep duration recommendations: final report.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Expert panel consensus guideline using RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method without original empirical data
PubMed 29073398 · doi:10.1016/j.sleh.2015.10.004
What was done
The National Sleep Foundation convened a multidisciplinary expert panel representing stakeholder organizations to establish daily sleep duration recommendations across the lifespan. The panel evaluated scientific evidence and applied the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method through a formal voting and consensus process to classify daily sleep durations across nine age groups into recommended, may be appropriate, or not recommended ranges.
What was found
The panel recommended the following daily sleep duration ranges across nine age categories: - Newborns: 14-17 hours - Infants: 12-15 hours - Toddlers: 11-14 hours - Preschoolers: 10-13 hours - School-aged children: 9-11 hours - Teenagers: 8-10 hours - Young adults: 7-9 hours - Adults: 7-9 hours - Older adults: 7-8 hours
Why it matters
This report establishes widely cited public health benchmarks for age-specific daily sleep requirements based on formal multidisciplinary consensus.
Limits
The recommendations reflect expert panel consensus rather than a newly conducted empirical study or meta-analysis. The abstract does not report panel size, search methodology, or quantitative effect sizes evaluated during the consensus process.
Cited by
- supports The ideal amount of sleep for adults is between 7 and 9 hours per night.