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National Sleep Foundation Issues New Recommendations for Children, Teens

Jim Liebelt

*The following is excerpted from an online article from the USA Today.

The National Sleep Foundation has revamped its recommendations for the way we recharge.

The non-profit scientific foundation, along with a panel of experts, updated its nightly sleep duration advice for all ages in a report published Feb. 2 in Sleep Health: The Official Journal of the National Sleep Foundation.

For most age groups, that includes widening the recommended duration for sleep. Here's the breakdown:

Newborn (0-3 months): 14-17 hours (previously: 12-18 hours)

Infant (4-11 months): 12-15 hours (previously: 14-15 hours)

Toddler (1-2 years): 11-14 hours (previously: 12-14 hours)

Preschooler (3-5 years): 10-13 hours (previously: 11-13 hours)

School-age child (6-13 years): 9-11 hours (previously: 10-11 hours)

Teen (14-17 years): 8-10 hours (previously: 8½-9½ hours)

Young adult (18-25 years): 7-9 hours (new category)

Adult (26-64 years): 7-9 hours (no change)

Older adult (65+ years): 7-8 hours (new category)

These new recommendations were the result of "multiple rounds of consensus voting after a comprehensive review of published scientific studies on sleep and health," according to the release.

The panel included six sleep experts as well as experts from several other medical associations including the American Neurological Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and American Physiological Society, totaling 18 people. Researchers also reviewed more than 300 sleep studies to reach consensus.

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/02/03/sleep-duration-recommendations/22790433/