Jen Gunter: Do you really need 8 hours of sleep every night?

Do you really need 8 hours of sleep every night?

When you can't sleep, you're desperate for help. And there's a booming industry waiting to tell you all the ways a lack of sleep can ruin your health -- and to sell you fancy gadgets to help you finally doze off. Shedding light on this flawed doomsday messaging, Dr. Jen Gunter explains why you shouldn't lose sleep over sleep -- and what to do instead. (For more on how your body works, tune in to her podcast, Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunter, from the TED Audio Collective.)

Many people worry that anything less than seven hours of sleep will ruin their health, but this common advice oversimplifies the reality of our sleep needs. In 2019, 21 percent of US adults wore sleep trackers, fueling anxiety and even a condition called orthosomnia, where obsessing over perfect sleep actually causes more problems. Experts advise focusing on how rested and alert one feels, instead of chasing a specific number of hours. Evidence-based therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia offer effective help without expensive devices or medications.