How much sleep do you need?
Illustrations by Liz Zonarich/Harvard Staff Health How much sleep do you need? And what you can do to get it February 28, 2025 3 min read Part of the Wondering series A series of random questions answered by Harvard experts. Elizabeth Klerman is a sleep researcher and a professor of neurology. It varies by person. Generally, it’s how much you get if you don’t have an alarm clock or someone to wake you up. See how much sleep you are getting after three or four days when no one wakes you and you don’t quickly get out of bed after you wake up (so you may fall back asleep). That might be how much you “need.” You can’t sleep unless you need to, not even when you’re bored — unlike eating chocolate cake, which you can do when you’re not hungry. “Our body takes a while to figure out it’s time to go to bed. If you remember when you were...