A new study has given a concrete idea of how much sleep we actually need, just so you know how much you're missing out on. 

Life is fast-paced these days, and we have no time  to be doing anything apart from eating, working and binge-watching our favourite stuff on Netflix. That leaves a small window in the day for us to get any sleep, which scientists tell us is very important. 

A new study in Sleep Health, the official journal of the National Sleep Foundation of America, has reinforced all the research that has already been done about sleep being vital, but also gave a very clear idea of how much sleep we should all be getting every night. 

Pic via Domenico Salvagnin/flickr

Dr. Lydia DonCarlos, one of the lead authors of the study, stated that the new figures were an update of the previous guidelines, and that the research underlined just how important sleep was to the human body: "We still have a great deal to learn about the function of sleep. We know it’s restorative and important for memory consolidation, but we don’t know the details of what the function of sleep is, even though it is how we spend one-third of our lives". 

For those of you out there who are reading this and are lucky enough to be newborn babies under the age of three months old, congratulations you're a child genius and will surely rule the country and/or world at some stage, but not for the next while because you should be getting 14-17 hours of sleep a day. Wouldn't that be great...

Anyway, for the rest of us between the age range of 18-64 years old, we should be getting between 7-9 hours of sleep a night, tucked up in our beds after a warm milk or something. We don't know, your pre-sleepy time routine is up to you. 

The full range of guidelines for sleep is as follows: 

Newborns (0-3 months): 14-17 hours each day

Infants (4-11 months): 12-15 hours

Toddlers (1-2 years): 11-14 hours 

Preschoolers (3-5): 10-13 hours

School age children (6-13): 9-11 hours

Teenagers (14-17): 8-10 hours

Younger adults (18-25): 7-9 hours

Adults (26-64): 7-9 hours

Older adults (65+): 7-8 hours

Via i100