Question: How much, should the average 12 to 13 year old male sleep? Because when I searched around on the N.H.S and B.M.I website; I hear it was 8 hours for an adult and 10 - 9 for a kid. But I believe that a older person should need more sleep than a child because... They use more % of there brain and they hold more weight on them while they move around thus using more energy, but then a friend told me that a child should use more energy and need more sleep because they are growing. I am interested in the subject so please could you provide an accurate answer, from jeef01 p.s the question is who needs more sleep, adults of kids?

Rachel Sharman answered on 7 Nov 2018:

Hi jeef01 and Ea-mm2018. Wow what an amazingly thought out question and great hypothesis. How do you think you could test this? How could we research it?

The National Sleep Foundation set our guidelines. They have looked at all the data out there so far and a group of experts sat and decided the guidelines.
For a teenager 8-10 is the ideal. Although 7 to 8 may be ok for some. We then get less and less sleep as we age.

This is a bit of a debate in sleep science right now. We work on how much a person gets then work out what amount they have to feel and act at their best. Older adults just dont seem to get as much sleep, their sleep is lighter than a child so they wake up a lot more. Some of us scientists think that this is why the guidelines look the way they do.

When we sleep we have NREM and REM stages. Our brain flicks between these throughout the night. During NREM sleep we have our deep sleep, this is where its really hard to wake us up and our body repairs and we grow (if the right hormones are released!). Babies have an incredible amount of deep sleep, its why they sleep so long. Teens still need to grow a bit so also need more sleep.
We also have something called synaptic pruning, it happens in NREM sleep too and its where our brain cuts the connections that arent need and strengthens those that are. The best way to think about this is your route to school from home. There are loads of different ways you could go, but you probably only use 2 or 3 different ways. When we are born our brain is hyper connected, lots and lots of paths. During sleep the brain becomes more efficient by this pruning. You guys are still growing and the brain is becoming an adult so still needs loads of this pruning.
Your metabolism is at its peak! You are burning so much energy as you learn and grow. Its why you guys need more sleep. We learn when sleep, our memories are replayed during the night and put into storage areas. Your brain right now is at its absolute best for learning all through your greater need for sleep! Im pretty jealous!
So thats why kids need more sleep but your hypothesis that its due to energy expense could be tested too! A person who uses more energy during the day, like a footballer, may need more sleep that say me in the office (although not when I have been awake watching people sleep all night!).
Hope that answers your question!